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POPULAR LECTURES 



ON 



ETHICS, 

MORAL OBLIGATION 

FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS. 

B YV$I ^ CAAVfSAc MERCER. 



FEAR GOD, AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS ! FOR THIS 19 THE WHOLE DUTY 
OF MAN. — ECCLESIASTES, XU., 13. 



PETERSBURG : 

PRINTED BY EDMUND & JULIAN C. RUFFIN, 
4 .......... . 

1841. 



.^5 



Entered, according (o act of D the clerk's office oi 

irt of the E 



I 7 2- 



TO 

THE PUPILS 

OF THE 

SCHOOLS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



JEWELS OF YOUR COUNTRY, 

PRECIOUS BEINGS, 

UPON WHOM THE HOPES AND FEARS OF MILLIONS REST, 

TO YOU IS DEDICATED 

THIS LITTLE OFFERING OF AFFECTIONATE RESPECT, 

BY THE AUTHORESS. 



BELMONT, DEC, 1837. 











ERRATA 


• 




Page 15, 


line 


16, 


for 


nature of God, 


read character of Go 


" 39, 


a 


10, 


it 


Toophites, 


ii 


Zoophites. 


■' 40, 


it 


23, 


tt 


obstructions, 


ii 


abstractions. 


" 46, 


(1 


3, 


tt 


restorations, 


K 


restoratives. 


" 46, 


II 


25, 


tt 


Leah, 


<< 


Lear. 


" 48, 


(( 


41, 


a 


them, 


tt 


him. 


" 50, 


(( 


47, 


tt 


quantity, 


a 


quality. 


" 60, 


II 


13, 


n 


also, 


tt 


all. 


" 68, 


(< 


14, 


it 


although, 


it 


. 


«« 68, 


(( 


35, 


n 


which, 


a 


an. 


" 81, 


II 


35, 


a 


nor even, 


a 


not even. 


■■ 82, 


II 


6, 


it 


principle, 


t; 


principles. 


" 92, 


"27,29 


obscure, 


tt 


impure. 


" 107, 


ii 


47, 


a 


hole, 


tt 


hell. 


" 133, 


n 


43, 


it 


trifle, 


tt 


trifler. 


" 154, 


tt 


4, 


a 


impostumation, 


it 


imposthumations. 


■■ 156, 


<( 


9, 


read equally unfortunate and unfounded. 


" 157, 


ii 


35, 


for 


disagreeable, 


read 


degrading. 


" 158, 


it 


25, 


a 


or man, 


tt 


a man. 


" 159, 


u 


14, 


a 


pursuit, 


tt 


pursuits. 


" 159, 


It 


20, 


tt 


scene, 


tt 


scenes. 


" 163, 


tt 


37, 


a 


commit, 


tt 


connect. 


" 175, 


tt 


7, 


tt 


sensibility, 


tt 


insensibility. 


" 184, 


a 


21, 


it 


found, 


a 


forced. 


11 186, 


tt 


27, 


tt . 


centurian, 


tt 


centenarian. 


" 196, 


tt 


31, 


tt 


your, 


tt 


you. 


« 202, 


ii 


9, 


tt 


families, 


tt 


persons. 


" 202, 


ii 


15, 


a 


becomes, 


tt 


he comes. 


" 210, 


(i 


38, 


tt 


use, 


tt 


pursue. 


« 211, 


li 


15, 


tt 


shall, 


a 


should. 


" 213, 


tt 


23, 


tt 


which gives, 


if 


who gives. 


" 216, 


it 


15, 


tt 


correct, 


tt 


convert. 


" 225, 


tt 


3, 


tt 


exulting, 


it 


excelling. 



CONTENTS. 



Dedication. Page vii 

Preface. xi 

I. — Introductory Lecture. — Meaning and utility of moral philosophy. 13 

II. — Metaphysics and ethics. 17 

III.— On th« attributes of God. 23 

IV. — On the nature of man as a compound being. ... - 29 

V. — Human nature — Carnal, physical or animal nature. 34 

VI. — On the origin of evil in the free agency of man. - 38 

VII. — On the degree to which the animal nature is to be exercised. - 45 

VIII.— Temperance. 49 

IX. — The senses. - - 54 

X. — Intellectural powers. 59 

XI.— Cultivation of the intellect. 65 

XII. — On the duty of preserving the health. 69 

XIII. — Conscience — Moral faculty, or moral sense. 76 

XIV.— Recapitulation. 79 

XV.— Duty to God, to ourselves and our fellow creatures. 82 

XVI.— Belief in the Scriptures. 87 

XVII. — Trust in God, or belief in his promises. .... 96 

XVIII X-Honoring God by our lives and conversations. ... 102 

XIX.— The fear and love of God 109 

XX.— Prayer. 113 

XXI. — Serving God with the life and substance. — To devote my- 
self, my life, and all that I call mine, to his service. ... H9 

XXII.— On the Sabbath. 124 

XXIII.— On the duty of meditation. - - - - - 131 

XXIV.— Duty to ourselves.— Truth. 135 

XXV.— On the duty of valuing and improving every mental and phy- 
sical gift of the Creator. 140 

XXVI. — On entering upon the practice of every duty, so soon as we 

are convinced of its moral obligation. 145 

XXVII. — On temper and patience. - - - - - 150 

XX VIII.— Manners - - - 156 

XXIX.— On cultivating the esteem, affection, and friendship of man- 
kind. 161 

XXX. — Love and marriage. 165 

XXXI.— Prudence. 170 



X CONTENTS. 

XXXII.— Honor and honesty. -175 

XXXIII.— On liberality and economy. 179 

XXXIV.— On the use of afflictions. - - 183 

XXXV. — Company, conversation and public amusements. - - 188 

XXXVI. — On our duties to our fellow creatures. .... 193 

XXXVII.— Right of property. 198 

XXXVIII. — Justice, or reciprocal duties. 207 

XXXIX — Charity, or benevolence. 213 

XL.— On patriotism. - - - - 217 

APPENDIX. 

Extracts from Cornaro. - 229 

Catalogue of books for a lady's library. - - - - * - - 230 



PREFACE. 



Moral, like physical science, is, reducible to a few elementary 



these wit 



principles. 

To bring these within the comprehension of the youthful mind 
has been my object in the volume which I now offer to those 
whose high office it is to initiate the youth of our country into all 
the various departments of knowledge, and to educate them to 
usefulness and happiness. The first duty of teachers is to imbue 
the young mind with sound moral principles ; to impart to it dis- 
tinct notions of the meaning of the words truth, justice, charity, 
honor, and to make it both feel and understand the nature of duty ; 
so that when the pupil passes from the school-room into the world, 
he may enter upon his part there, with as clear a comprehension 
as the inexperienced can obtain, of what is right and what is 
wrong ; and with zealous resolutions to pursue the former, as the 
sole means of obtaining temporal as well as eternal happiness. 

I have to apologize for the repetitions which may be found in a 
treatise intended as a school-book. 

The endless combinations of motives and actions are, as we have 
observed, so resolvable into a few elementary principles, that constant 
reference to these is unavoidable. 

That such a book is called for, no teacher can doubt. Not being 
able to obtain one for my own pupils, first led me to write a course 
of familiar lectures ; and a hope that their usefulness may be extend- 
ed induces me to publish them. 

That the moral improvement of the world has been far from 
commensurate with the increase and diffusion of religious know- 
ledge, in the present age, is a fact which is universally felt; and, 
while it has afforded matter of triumph to those who have denied 
the purifying efficacy of religion, it has grieved and disappointed 
the Christian, who, in the ardor of hope ,had looked to Bible so- 



Xll PREFACE. 

cieties, Sabbath schools, and other religious institutions, expecting 
to see a millennial glory follow their tracks, wherever they have set 
up their altars, and proclaimed their doctrines. It becomes Chris- 
tians to reflect whether they have not contributed to this unexpect- 
ed effect, by allowing an unnatural separation to be made between 
religion and morality ; whether a pure morality is not, in fact, the 
soil upon which Christianity is destined to produce its glorious 
fruits ; and whether they are not working against God and their 
own cause, when they deny that all men* have the law written in 
their hearts by God,f who is, in truth, no respecter of persons, but 
from all nations, as in the case of the Roman centurion, accepts 
such as fear him, and work righteousness. I would also propose 
to another class of readers, as a question, whether, since human 
reason has never produced any very apparent effects of itself in 
improving mankind, it should not bow before the transcendent 
purity of Christian ethics, and submit to a rule which sustains a 
character of perfect holiness, to which the strictest conformity in 
practice must produce, in man, the nearest approach to perfection. 
If we inculcate upon the young, pure moral principles, although 
we should often fail to bring them under their immediate influence, 
yet, by enlightening fully the conscience, we would make them 
sensible of the folly of vice, and bring into operation the principles 
of reformation. Thus, whether our motive be to preserve inno- 
cence, to increase virtue, or to reclaim vice, or whether we aim at 
all these great designs, the study of Christian ethics seems to pro- 
mise us most hope of success, by opening the mind early to the 
truths of moral science, and using the pliability of youth to mould 
the thoughts, feelings and principles of human society to wiser and 
happier customs and manners than those which have heretofore 
been too much drawn from the impure sources of ancient classic 
literature, or the yet grosser barbarism of the boasted age of chi- 
valry. It is for Christianity to establish a principle of high and lofty 
honor, and distribute the streams of social and domestic virtue 
over the desert wilds of the moral world, until it shall rejoice and 
be glad, and blossom in the beauty and fragrance of the rose. 

* Romans, ii., 15. f Acts, x., 34-35. 



POPULAR LECTURES 



ON 



ETHICS, OR MORAL OBLIGATION. 



INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 

MEANING AND UTILITY OP MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 

John, i. 9. 

My VERY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS : 

Bright and glorious is the morn of life, when youth and inexpe- 
rience launch their light bark upon the sparkling tide of a new 
existence. Their broad pennon bears, in its silken folds, hope on 
the wing pursuing distant pleasures ; their bright streamers flutter 
in the stirring breeze, revealing curious devices of anticipated joys ; 
the spray casts around the vessel's prow showers of diamonds ; the 
dipping oars send back, on the circling waves, patines of burnished 
silver, and flashes of living gold ; and softly, as the receding waters 
close behind the stern, they murmur a gentle, kind adieu. Life 
is then all poetry — all pleasure ; and well do the aged remember 
the magic power of youthful feelings and imaginations, and what a 
dazzling glow their own enthusiasm spread over the sober realities 
of life. But far from the promised haven for which they sailed is 
the shore where their broken voyage has ended. Many and sor- 
rowful have been the shipwrecks which they have witnessed : gay 
hearts swept away before the receding tide of fate; confident 
spirits sunk in the raging deep, or dashed on the rocky coast of 
disappointment and despair. To one who thus looks back upon 
the sad vicissitudes of a past life, there is something deeply affect- 
ing in the unconscious mirth of the young, sporting needlessly 
on the verge of an ocean of trouble, upon which they are but 
too willing to embark, without rudder and without compass. 

To furnish you, before you commence your voyage, with the 
means of descrying approaching danger, and of protecting your- 
selves from the fate of the inconsiderate and the ignorant, is my 
present aim. To dangers you must be exposed. May you, from 

2 



14 POPULAR LECTURES. 

tke experience of others, learn in time so to direct your course as 
to exalt you to honor and usefulness, to the favor of God and of 
man ; to the portion of happiness which is destined for the good 
here, and to that perfect bliss which is reserved for the virtuous 
hereafter. Let me prevail with you to lay aside the levity natural 
to your time of life, and allow me to command your attention, 
your deep and serious attention, while I endeavor to explain to you 
the principles of that science which has for its object the happiness 
and the perfection of the human soul: for moral philosophy may 
be defined the science of human happiness and virtue. The term 
moral, strictly speaking, signifies what belongs to conduct. Philo- 
sophy (more than mere science) means the love of knowledge. 
The beautiful significancy of the term moral philosophy, then, 
should not be lost sight of. It means the love of that practical 
wisdom, which, if pursued aright, and with ardor, leads to every 
thing that is noble and virtuous, lovely, and of good report ; and 
aids in preparing the soul for heaven, by saving it below from the 
contagion of folly and vice. 

The principles of a science, upon which the happiness of man- 
kind so much depends, should, if possible, be reduced to certainty ; 
and yet, as one of the most acute of sceptics (Gibbon) has admitted, 
" The most sublime efforts of philosophy (i. e., of human reason.) 
can extend no farther than feebly to point the desire, the hope, or 
at most, the probability of a future state : there is nothing, except a 
divine revelation, that can ascertain the existence, and describe the 
condition, of the invisible country which is destined to receive the 
souls of men after their separation from the body." Consequently, 
from nothing but a divine revelation can we leam what belongs to 
the true nature and powers of the soul, as designed for that invisi- 
ble country, that uriknoicn world, into which the human soul is fast 
hastening, during its sojourn in this transitory state. 

So soon as we leave the midnight darkness of the fool's heart, 
which says, " there is no God," so soon as one bright beam of rea- 
son enters the mind of man, it reveals to him a Creator, an infinite 
Author of finite things ; and it leads him on to acknowledge, that 
we must look for the nature and natural uses of finite things into 
the character of the infinite Maker of them. If we are the works 
of God's hands, we are his, and bound to live for the purposes for 
which he made us. Would we question what we are, and what he 
has made us to be, let us look into his revelation of himself in na- 
ture, and see to what all his own works tend. If to order and har- 
mony, if to the exhibition of perfect wisdom, power, and goodness, 
then may we be certain that he has made us with a capacity for 
order and harmony, with a sufficient portion of wisdom, power 
and goodness, to enable us to effect purposes similar to those 
which are effected by his personal manifestations of these divine 
attributes. Let our conformity to his holy requisition then prove 



INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 15 

our gratitude to our Creator, for having thus created us in his 
image, and to him who came upon earth to restore that image, 
when defaced and almost destroyed. 

Various, and wild, in ancient and modern times, have been the 
speculations of men who sought for moral science, every where 
but where it was to be found. Some have rejected a belief in the 
existence of spirit, except as a condition of matter, while others 
have adopted the opposite extreme, and denied altogether the exis- 
tence of matter ; and thus, between their theories, have annihilated 
existence— leaving neither matter nor mind. Such could not possi- 
bly have been the result, had man preserved the original integrity 
with which his Creator endowed him. For then, possessed of an 
infallible criterion, as the relations of soeiety and the duties to God 
became more complicated, all would have been referred to an un- 
erring rule, and explained by one unchanging principle. In the 
nature of God, reflected in our moral nature, we should have found 
the solution of every case of casuistry, the explanation of every 
metaphysical doubt ; and in the works of God the happy criteria 
and examplars for the creatures made after his likeness. So soon, 
however, as the moral or spiritual nature of man was dethroned 
from the sovereignty which naturally belonged to it, and the physi- 
cal or sensual came to usurp dominion over him, moral science be- 
came a chaos. The continual conflict of two opposing principles 
produced endless difficulties. The elements of truth were so min- 
gled up with the suggestions of passion, the present sensual prin- 
ciple operated so much more rapidly and vehemently than the ab- 
stract principles, than the pure and gentle influences of mind, that 
man sank under the dominion of passion, or retained only respect 
enough for truth to create a miserable sense of degradation. In 
the history both of mental philosophy and ethics we find how little 
capable the unaided reason of man is of reducing this chaos to 
order. Revert for a few moments to the various speculations of 
philosophy. Some maintain the soul of man to be God, whom they 
suppose to be the only soul of the universe ; some consider the 
soul as a mere subtle fire, produced by the elements of his material 
nature, a mere freeing of latent caloric, as by the collision of flint 
and steel ; while some speculate upon whether mind exists in space, 
and how many spirits could stand upon the point of a needle. 
Such have been the metaphysics and the ethics of human invention, 
which are to be found in the schools of the ancients, from which 
the moderns have never greatly departed. Of the ancient schools, 
Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurus founded the most famous. The 
first, whose philosophy is known as the Peripatetic, described virtue 
or moral law as the mean between the two extremes of opposite 
vices. The second, the celebrated founder of the Stoics, made vir- 
tue to consist in living according to nature. Epicurus taught that 
virtue consists in seeking our own happiness. Of the first it is 



16 POPULAR LECTURE9. 

easy to see, that to creatures subject to the influence of passion, it 
is hard to discover the true mean ; it must ever appear to vary as 
our feelings vary ; and our practice of duty, if regulated by it, 
would be generally controlled by our inclinations. The Stoics, 
making the rigid application of their principle, attempted to resolve 
it into conformity to the will of God, which they supposed to be 
the soul of the world; and since many appearances seemed to them 
to intimate that man's present happiness was not designed in his 
existence, their philosophy excluded it from its system, and substi- 
tuted an affected indifference, from which we still derive the term 
Stoicism. Epicurus taught his followers, that by an observation of 
what, on the whole, conduced to our earthly happiness, we should 
learn the principles of virtue. But his followers, being not so phi- 
losophical as himself, found a fruitful principle of vice in this selfish 
and purely temporal doctrine. Thus they fell into opposite and fa- 
tal errors, which are beautifully alluded to by Dr. Doddridge, in the 
following lines : 

"Live while you live, the Epicure would say, 

And take the passing pleasures of the day. 

Live to your God, the rigid Stoic cries, 

And wait for pleasure till you reach the skies ; 

God, in my life, let both united be : 

I live for pleasure, when I iive to thee." 

Among modern philosophers, the Christian ethics have approved 
themselves so highly, that vagaries of imagination upon that sub- 
ject have been arrested, and the field of speculation surrendered to 
metaphysics, which afford an inexhaustible ground for hypothetic 
theories. With these our subject has no direct connexion, and we 
shall confine our metaphysics to such general views of the organi- 
zation of the mental faculties, as may enable us better to estimate 
the moral powers of man. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is moral philosophy ? 2. What does the term, strictly speaking, sig- 
nify ? 3. Why is it important that its principles should be reduced to certainty? 
4. What does Gibbon say about a future state ? 5. What follows as a conse- 
quence ? 6. Where must we look for the nature and uses of things? 7. If we 
are the work of God's hand, to what are we bound ? 8. How do we ascertain 
what his will is ? 9. How do we know what laws we are to obey ? 10. Have 
men always known the principles of moral science? 11. Why not? 12. If 
they had preserved their integrity what would have resulted I 13. How do we 
know that man could not have restored the truth? 14. What have been their 
ideas of God and man ? 15. Where are the ethics of human invention to be 
found? 16. What was the school of Aristotle? 17. What that of Zeno ? 1* 
What that of Epicurus ? 19. How did the Peripatetics explain virtue ? 20. 
How the Stoics? 21. How the Epicureans? 22. What is Doddridge's epi- 
gram ? 23. What system of ethics is universally admitted now ? 24. How far 
do we enter into the subject of metaphysics ? 



LECTURE It. 17 



LECTURE II. 

METAPHYSICS AND ETHICS. 

The world by wisdom knew not God.— Cor. i. 21. 
Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. — Isaiah, i. 16, 17. 

Metaphysics is the science which treats of the natural powers 
and faculties of mind. Ethics, the science of moral obligation, or 
the principles of duty by which men are connected with each other 
and with God. In the study of metaphysics, w T e soon perceive that 
of the nature of spirit w T e know nothing, except by observing its 
effects. We know that we have mind, as we know that there is a 
God, by the operations of thought or will in action. We say that 
God has certain attributes, because we observe indications of such 
moral principles in his creation, and providence. We say that 
God is a spirit, because these attributes are not qualities of matter: 
we say that we have minds, because w^e find certain powers of an 
invisible agent within us, which w r e can use at will ; and, because 
these powers somewhat resemble the attributes of God, we per- 
ceive that we are created in his image, or likeness. For instance, 
God must have contemplated, as an abstract proposition, the fitness 
of certain things to produce that which we call happiness for man, 
since he arranged many causes in creation to produce that happi- 
ness : we have the power of contemplating certain things as means 
of producing that state for another which we call happiness. 
Again, God appears to have desired the happiness of man, since he 
has arranged his creation to produce it. We discover a power 
within ourselves to desire the happiness of men. Again, w 7 e have 
a power to control, by mental energy, the course of external events, 
so as to produce that happiness. In all these things we evidently 
bear a resemblance to our Maker. 

I see nothing gained to virtue or knowledge, by the ingenuity 
which has been busily employed of late years, in the scientific 
world, in oversetting the established theory of mental philosophy, 
which admitted that mind has separate faculties or powers for its 
different operations and affections; and as our object is solely 
utility, and utility demands certain knowledge, we will pass over, 
without notice, such metaphysical speculations as will afford us no 
assistance in the investigation of moral obligation. The metaphy- 
sics of the schools have so often changed their grounds, and as- 
sumed such fantastic variations of principle, that it appears to be 
a field still open to the broadest assumptions, and well merits the 
character given of it by the sweet poet, who calls it 

" The glare of false science 
That leads to bewilder and dazzles to blind." 
2* 



18 POPULAR LECTURES. 

The metaphysics to which I have adhered in this little treatise, 
are derived from the Bible, which I consider as the only rational 
source of knowledge upon a subject known only to God. He who 
made man says he is a compound being ; that he made him first a 
living animal, just as he made all other animals;* that, fat first. 
he was not spiritual, although created in the image of God; but 
that he gave him a \second nature which was spiritual. This 
is what the Savior reproved Nicodemus (although a master in 
Israel) for being ignorant of.§ Such are the metaphysics which I 
find in my Bible ; and when I compare them with the schools, and 
with human nature, I am astonished that any should fail to per- 
ceive that the Bible is simple, clear, consistent, invariable and 
luminous with truth upon the subject ; speaking of it authorita- 
tively, (as our Lord affirms,) as of that which is known ;\\ whereas 
the schools speak, as Jeremy Taylor says, " various!)', uncertainly, 
and unsatisfyingly." 

Considering it an axiom in ethics from which we should never 
depart, that man cannot be morally bound to do that which he is 
naturally unable to do, it becomes of the greatest consequence to 
ascertain what are his natural abilities and inabilities. If we adopt 
the metaphysics and ethics of the Bible, we learn that man kept 
not his first estate, because the law of obedience is a spiritual law, 
and can only be kept by a spiritual being ; therefore, his animal 
nature was unable to keep it ; but in the history of the next gene- 
ration, Abel was spiritual, because he offered an acceptable offering 
to God. If one man, immediately after the fall, was spiritual en 
to please God, then there is no natural inability to become spiritual; 
in fact Cain was condemned for not doing as well as his brother. 
Moral philosophy, to me, means the science of moral government 
drawn from a distinct perception of the character of the Deity, as 
it has been revealed to us, in several ways ; and from the approba- 
tion of the Divine perfections, which is so often evinced by men as 
to prove that they partake of his attributes, in a sufficient degree, 
to comprehend his being, and to convince them that they are made 
by him, and consequently can act upon the same principle he acts 
upon, as he commands, "Be ye holy, for / am holy." Let us sup- 
pose for a moment, that the universe had been created by an intel- 
ligent, but evil being, who, by every act of creation, had evidently 
produced the means of making his creatures miserable. Had he 
then created one rational being, who was capable of perceiving 
this fact, that all things were intended to effect the misery o( sensi- 
ble beings, it would certainly be known by this intelligent creature, 
that it would be agreeable to, and intended by, the author of evil, 
that he, his creature, should act in subserviency to his universal 

* Gen. i., 24, 27. f 1 Cor. xv.. 46. J John hi., 3-6. 

§ John hi., 10. H John iii., 11. 



LECTURE II. 19 

plans, as evinced in his works, and pursue the same evil principle 
in his conduct, and the various practical applications which might 
be made of the malevolent principle to increase the sum of misery 
to created beings, would in that case constitute the science of mo- 
ral philosophy. The same is evident of a good Being, if it is 
morally certain that he has created a world upon the principles of 
wisdom, power and goodness ; and has created one being with fa- 
culties to perceive, also, that he himself possesses the same princi- 
ples by which his Maker is regulated. " Be ye holy, for / am holy." 
As the lines of resemblance to himself, in the moral nature of man, 
have not been originally deep enough, to resist the influence of 
sensual corruption, the original revelation has been renewed, and 
added to, in the written communications which he has been pleased 
from time to time to make, until, by finally introducing our Savior 
into the world, he has brought out again every line which had been 
gradually effaced. Wherefore we hear him say, " If /, then, your 
Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought to wash one 
another's feet ; for I have given you an example, that you should 
do as I have done to you." By which I understand, that if it is 
not beneath the dignity of your lord and master to descend to the 
lowest state of man, and care for the least of his comforts, ye who 
are endowed with a portion of the same benevolence which actu- 
ated him, should not restrain that godlike principle from any influ- 
ence of animal pride. Let us pursue this inquiry and we shall 
soon find that our moral or spiritual nature is not a thing to be 
created; it must be a derived nature, not a created one. God's 
attributes are eternal and infinite. He is the only source of all 
wisdom, power and goodness. Any portion, then, of wisdom, power 
or goodness which any creature possesses, must be derived from 
him ; and as it is evident that he cannot divest himself of any por- 
tion of his infinite attributes, when he bestows wisdom, power or 
goodness upon us, it may justly be said— "In him we live, and move, 
and have our being." He is as the sun, and we the rays. Our 
moral qualities are still his attributes. We should, however, be 
entirely in the dark, as to the individual being and duties of man, 
if we should confine ourselves to a consideration of this derived 
nature. By his moral nature he is connected with God ; by his 
physical, he is separated from him, and made unlike him. From 
his physical or created nature he has a separate being ; and this 
indeed is the foundation of all his independent powers, and all his 
peculiar duties, his obedience and disobedience. Through the 
senses which belong to his corporeal nature man derives, first, his 
knowledge of his own existence and of the existence of other 
creatures, and of his connexion with those other creatures, and 
with his Creator. For it is evident, that a person born without 
sight (as many are) could never have that knowledge which can 
be communicated only through the sense of sight. Should he also r 



20 POPULAR LECTURES. 

as is often the case, be born deaf and dumb, he can never have 
those ideas which he receives only through the ears. In the case 
of the girl, in the Hartford Asylum, who was born deaf, dumb and 
blind, feeling and smelling are made the substitutes for the senses 
which are wanting, and through them alone has she derived any 
consciousness of existence. But again, some have from a general 
paralysis of the nerves lost their feeling and smelling; and we have 
but to consider the human body to have been created without any 
of the senses, and consequently without perception and sensation, 
and there could not possibly have been such consciousness of self- 
existence as is necessary to the moral being of man, much less 
could there be consciousness of the existence of other beings. Nor, 
in that case, could there exist any moral relations between such 
unconscious beings. Human virtue and vice are terms originating 
from the creation of the human body, as well as pleasure and pain. 
Knowledge of our Creator is first derived from observing through 
the senses, and through them alone, the operation of his attributes 
in creation. For, says St. Paul, "God has not left himself with- 
out a witness from the beginning ; for the invisible things of him 
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by 
the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead ; so 
that they are without excuse: since, knowing God, they worship 
him not as God." 

By the eye we look through nature up to nature's God, and by 
the wonders of the visible creation we learn how much we are 
bound to adore the great Author of these wondrous works. Thus 
is the heart quickened to gratitude and devotion. By the visible 
expressions of joy or anguish, by the melodious accents of delight, 
or the discordant cry of anguish, we are taught to sympathize with 
our fellow creatures ; and thence we derive benevolence. In the 
same way, (i. e.,) through the medium of the senses, is every kind 
of knowledge derived, and all our moral sentiments originate : and 
thus we trace the operation of the Spirit in giving birth to that 
spiritual thing born of God, which is " the honest and good heart." 
—"the good soil of the Scriptures," which brings forth the fruit of 
eternal life. Without the senses, men would be a nonentity ; for, 
(as Mr. Locke says,) his existence would in that state be the same 
as no existence, he then, as a thinking, feeling and acting bein a 
a compound being, made up of the physical or created nature, and 
the moral or derived nature. Without the latter, he would be a 
mere animal, a creature of perceptions and sensations ; with it, he 
has the capacity to use the animal for purposes for which alone it 
has no natural fitness; "For the carnal mind is not subject to the 
law of God, neither indeed can be." 

By the wisdom with which God has endowed him, he compares 
and combines causes and effects : by the portion of goodness de- 
rived from his Maker, his heart is inclined, in a degree, towards 



LECTURE II. 21 

God and heavenly things; and by the power which has been 
given him, he is led to imitate the acts of the Omnipotent, and 
arrange causes so as to produce new combinations of effects. It 
is therefore to the moral image of himself that God says, " Be holy, 
for I am holy." These general views lead us to the conclusion, 
that the true rule of our moral government is as close an imitation 
of the Deity, as our animal faculties will permit ; and the rule for 
the physical nature, is to submit its blind impulse to the govern- 
ment of its better part, the moral nature. And, be it observed, 
I am now contending for the honor of the Creator, not the 
exculpation of the creature, who has never used his natural pow- 
ers as he should have done. We shall, in our future divisions 
upon this deeply useful subject of inquiry, endeavor to determine 
how far we are permitted to know God and apply our knowledge 
to the government of our own minds and conduct. Should it be 
made a question, why the works of some of those many learned 
and highly gifted men, who have written upon the same subject, 
will not supply us with a text-book, I can only say, I know of 
none which would suit our purpose. They are none of them suf- 
ficiently explicit, for popular use, in laying down the double or 
compound nature of man. Some are influenced by partial and 
contracted views of God's moral government ; and while they 
justly state the will of God to be the foundation of all moral obli- 
gation for his creatures, they represent him as a Being displaying a 
despotic partiality in his government, which would be contrary to 
the integrity of moral principle in a human being ; and as passing 
by the wants and neglecting the welfare of a portion of his de- 
pendent creatures, while all his grace and mercy are extended to- 
wards those whom it is his sovereign pleasure to honor. Thus, 
practically nullifying his command, " Be holy, for I am holy ;" and 
substituting, in the name and example of the Deity, " Be ye partial, 
for / am partial." Practically saying, neglect some of your children 
to prove how necessary your parental care is, by their misery and 
destruction in their desertion. Take one from your ten, and by 
your wise training make him a striking monument of what you 
might have done for the others. These, evidently, upon our prin- 
ciple of moral philosophy, being an imitation of the Deity, would 
be bad moral philosophers. Others take the correct view, in the 
abstract, but do not perceive that God is himself the practical cri- 
terion to which he has referred us ; not only in his Son, who says, 
" Learn of me," but also in his character of Father, since he says, 
"Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." By 
this, I understand, that according as God has revealed himself to 
us, he has established the standard by which we are to measure 
our moral principles in their application to our conduct. Acting 
by the same principles by which he acts. Dean Paley (a man of 
fine intellectual powers) has erred most dangerously, in his very 



22 POPULAR LECTURES. 

popular manual of moral philosophy, by using in a technical sense, 
a word which will for ever mislead men, by its popular signification, 
and which often misleads the dean himself, making expediency, the 
foundation of moral obligation. Expediency, as he means it to be 
understood, is merely the result of experience ; that which, from 
experience, it has been found best to do for the ultimate good of 
God's creatures. But, in common parlance, expediency means 
present conveniency, apart from right or wrong. It is evident, that 
this is a mutable standard, depending, in its application, upon hu- 
man opinion. While the principle I have adopted, as St. Paul 
affirms, leaves the moral agent without excuse ; since it presents 
him with an immutable standard, God himself being from the be- 
ginning, revealed to us in creation, as Immutable Truth. Our 
power to learn what is so revealed, depends entirely upon our 
minding the things which are clearly seen by those who do mind 
them ; so that we are without excuse, if we mind them not, know 
them not, and obey them not. And if any one will mind them so 
as perfectly to obey them, he shall live by them, "For the doers of 
the law shall be justified.'" (Rom. ii., 13.) 



1. What is the difference between metaphysics and ethics? 2. What do we 
know of the nature of spirit? 3. How do we know we have mind ? 4. A 
do we say that God is a spirit ? 5. Why do we say we are made in his image ? 
6. What instances are given of the resemblance ? 7. What is gained by deny- 
ing that the mind has separate faculties? 8. Why do we avoid metaphysics? 
9. What is the present state of metaphysics ? 10. Whence are our metaphy- 
sics derived? 11. Why are these to be preferred ? 12. What does God say he 
first made man ? 13. What expression in Genesis proves this ? 14. Where is 
it said that the first nature of man was not spiritual ? 15. How does he obtain 
a spiritual nature? 16. What does the Savior reprove Nicodemus for ? 17. 
What is the difference between the Bible and the schools ? IS. What is an 
axiom in ethics from which we should not depart ? 19. If Adam was not spi- 
ritual was Abel? 20. Why was Cain reproved? 21. What is the foundation 
of moral philosophy ? 22. If the universe had been created by an evil being 
what would have been the perception of his intelligent creatures ? 23. In that 
case what would the ethics have been ? 24. Is the same evident of a good 
Being? 25. If the science of ethics is derived from a study of the works of 
creation, why was revelation necessary ? 26. What has been the effect of re- 
velation ? 27. What proves that we were intended to imitate God ? 2S. Why 
do we say our moral or spiritual nature is a derived nature ? 29. Why do we 
say in hiin we live and move and have our being ? 30. If our moral qualities 
are so connected with God, why are we so different from him ? 31. What is 
the foundation of all his characteristics ? 32. If one was born blind, what 
would he be ignorant of? 33. How does the child who is born deaf, dumb 
and blind, learn ? 34. As individuals have been found without each of thp 
senses, suppose a person born without any of them, what would be the effect? 
35. What are the terms vice and virtue, pleasure and pain, derived from ? 36. 
How is knowledge of the Creator derived ? 37. How does St. Paul say the in- 
visible things of Him are seen? 3S. How are the affections excited? 29. How 
is other knowledge obtained ? 40. What would the existence of man be with- 
out the senses ? 41. If he had no moral nature what would he be? 42. What 
use does the moral nature make of the animal ? 43. What then is the rule of 
moral government ? 44. What is the rule of physical nature ? 45. What is 



LECTURE III. 23 

LECTURE III. 

ON THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 

Let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, 
that I am the Lord, which exercise loving-kindness, judgment and righteous- 
ness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord —Jeremiah, 
ix., 24. 

My dear young friends : 

If we have decided upon the evidence vouchsafed us, that the 
Deity is our standard of moral principle, it is necessary that we 
should next determine what w r e really know of him ; and for this 
purpose we must examine by what means we know any thing of 
him. The being of God is made evident to us in the following 
way. That there is a God, Creator of all things, we conclude from 
the appearance of design in all things that exist. We say (says 
Paley) of a thing that appears to exist without order or design, as 
of a misshapen stone, cast on the roadside, that it is the work of 
chance, because order, design, fitness, and relation of cause and 
effect, necessarily suggest the idea of a Maker possessed of the at- 
tributes of mind, power and wisdom. Design, order, fitness, imply 
the action of wisdom; creation and government, the action of 
power. The existence of a w 7 orld, then, in which we clearly trace 
the operations of wisdom and power, in the design, order, and 
government, must lead us to the conclusion, that it is a creation, 
and that, too, of a Being possessed of wisdom and power. This 
conclusion carries us, by an unavoidable process of reasoning, to 
the truth of a self-existing First Cause. For if creation requires a 
Creator possessed of power and wisdom, then must the Creator 
have existed in the possession of those attributes of mind before 
they were exercised in creation. Therefore, before any thing had, 
by his power, been brought into existence, the Creator was himself 
the first great, self-existing Spirit : uncreated, because the Author 
of, and therefore existing before, all creation; and eternal, 
because had there ever been a period in which nothing existed, no 
thing could ever have come into existence; there being, in that 
case, no such thing as a cause of existence ; and where there is no 
cause, there is no effect. All creation is evidently an effect of wis- 

the object of these arguments ? 46. Why do we want a new manual of ethics ? 
47. Why do we object to partiality in the Divine government? 48. Suppose 
a man should select one out of his ten children, and, neglecting all the others, 
bestow his care upon him, what would it be ? 49. What standard has God 
given us which is never referred to? 50. In what does Paley err? 51. What 
does he mean by expediency ? 52. What is the common signification? 5-3. 
What is the great objection to it? 54, What is the advantage of our princi- 
ples ? 55. If any one will mind them what will be the effect? 



24 POPULAR LECTURES. 

dora and power. Therefore wisdom and power existed before cre- 
ation, as the cause must exist before the effect. 

Goodness is shown throughout the order and arrangement of 
God's providence, by provisions for the preservation and enjoy- 
ment of all his creatures, from the most exalted intellectual being, 
whose soul rises sublime upon the wings of praise in contemplating 
the glorious works of his heavenly Father, to the little worm which 
luxuriates in the odorous folds of the dew-bespangled rose-bud. 

Wisdom, power and goodness are qualities, and, therefore, have 
no independent existence. They must exist as qualities of some- 
thing, or they do not exist at all ; hence we perceive, that as we 
can have no idea of what does not exist, the ideas of wisdom, 
power and goodness which we have, must be derived from some- 
thing in which the whole of these qualities exist, and are made 
known to us, and this something must be mind ; for they are the 
qualities of mind, and nothing but mind. Divine Mind then, is 
what we mean by God. Man acquires the ideas of such qualities- 
in contemplating the Spirit of creation, which is God, or the mani- 
festation of the Divine Mind. 

Nor does the hypothetical notion of an eternal necessity of na- 
ture alter the case ; because this, if there could be such a thing, 
would then be the eternal First Cause, and consequently would be 
God ; and to be adored for having certainly established all things 
upon the principles of wisdom, power and goodness. But it is an 
idle supposition, and only deserves to be noticed, because fine intel- 
lects have often delighted to leave the regions of fact and expe- 
rience, to roam through the immensity of conjectural theory. We 
are certain from observation, that creation cannot be accounted for, 
except by admitting an intelligent Author or Creator. And, more- 
over, we are convinced that there is but one Creator, by the unity 
of design which is observable in his works ; all heavenly bodies 
moving together harmoniously in their spheres ; each exercising a 
happy influence to keep the others in their orbits ; all animals 
having an element to live in suited to their conformation, and being 
created with a perfect adaptation of organic structure for their 
places of abode; all vegetables being located where they are 
wanted on the earth for particular purposes. 

Astronomers remarked, that among the heavenly bodies which 
compose our solar system, a regularity was observed which, in 
one solitary instance, appeared to have been violated. The planets, 
as their orbits receded from the sun, were seen to double (or near- 
ly so,) their distances. Venus was nearly twice as far from Mer- 
cury as Mercury from the Sun, the Earth twice as far from Venus 
as Venus from Mercury, and so on; until, between Mars and Jupi- 
ter, the proportional distance was doubled, and appeared to indicate 
that a planet was wanting to complete the system. An astrono- 
mer, (Bode,) arguing upon the uniformity of the other proportions. 



LECTURE III. 25 

suggested that one planet must have been destroyed or carried 
away ; but the objection to this was, that the derangement of the 
system which would have taken place from removing a part, had 
not occurred. Judge, then, of the astonishment and delight with 
which men of science discovered a cluster of small planets in the 
interval, altogether not appearing equal to such a single one as^ 
would have suited the balance of the system if placed there, but 
proving that there had been such a balance.* Of the vegetable 
world, nothing appears so wonderful as the preparation for per- 
petuating and multiplying plants. Take, for instance, a cherry 
tree : over every leaf you will find a little green bud ; remove it 
carefully, open the bark of a plum stalk, insert it neatly, and in 
due time you will find that this little bud contained every thing 
necessary to the production of a cherry tree. It will enlarge its 
now invisible parts, and expand until it has increased to be a per- 
fect cherry tree; and over each one of its leaves you will find 
it to contain, again, a similar bud, which may be considered as a 
cherry tree in its incipient state. The feet, teeth and stomachs of 
graminivorous animals are suitably varied from the claws, beaks, 
tusks, stomachs, &c, of birds and beasts of prey. I have never 
myself been more struck with any one instance of design in na- 
ture, than in the young colt, whose long legs and short neck ena- 
ble him to stand by his mother, and feed on her milk, while, pre- 
paratory to a destined change of food, his proportions change, and 
his beautiful curved neck gradually assumes a depending form 
and increased length, until it places his head in a more convenient 
position for feeding on the grass, which is to be his future suste- 
nance. Similar are the changes in birds, unfledged in the nest, 
and feathers coming only with their maturity, to waft them to the 
skies. The chrysalis of the butterfly is the most wonderful and 
beautiful instance of the many changes daily witnessed. In the 
caterpillar, crawling upon sixteen short legs, and eating solid ve- 
getable food, we find the suitable organs for its present condition : 
its mouth armed with teeth ; its attenuated body clinging more se- 
curely on the wind-shaken leaf, than if thicker and shorter ; inca- 
pable of rapid movements, it has eight eyes, yet these are not to 
keep it in terror of distant dangers, but to inform it of approach- 
ing objects. In a soft, almost gelatinous state, defending itself by 
the acrid juices provided within its body for the purpose, it lives 
amidst its appropriate enjoyment, until arrived at the maturity of 
the present stage of its being. It then commences a wonderful 
preparation for a future life. During its past existence, it has been 
gradually developing the rudiments of a new being, which shall 



* It is probable that the portion of matter here apparently deficient may 
still exist, in such small masses as not to be visible without more powerful 
glasses than those by which the asteroids have been discovered. 



26 POPULAR LECTURES. 

still be the identical existence of the present. Take your micro* 
scope, and under the sides of the caterpillar, you will find the rudi- 
ments of ivings. Who would guess for what they were destined 1 
But now the wisdom and goodness of God have prepared it a 
second stage of being ; it appears to lose its animation, contracts 
itself; its body throws out a juice which hardens like varnish over 
it, and effectually excludes air and moisture. It is dead — it is 
buried ! But keep it in its little sepulchre a few days, and it bursts 
its bonds, unfolds a pair of glorious wings, and soars away, an in- 
habitant of a new element. Is this the grovelling, disgusting, 
slimy, hairy-crawling insect? The same: not one particle of mat- 
ter has been added, not one abstracted ; the sepulchre is there, 
open, empty. The dead " is not there, he is gone ;" his form has 
been compressed, but his many limbs, so necessary for crawling, 
have disappeared, and now he has in their stead such as may serve 
to sustain him as he waves his resplendent wings ; his mouth has 
also been converted into a long proboscis, that he may search the 
deep recesses of the floral tubes which enclose his celestial food. 
But then those resplendent wings ! Do they also give him pleasure 
as he hovers over the beautiful rose or Persian lilac ! Does he see 
as well as drink the honey of the flowers 1 Can you believe it, he 
has 20,000 eyes ! Yes, consult again your microscope, and you 
will find within those large, round, prominent orbs, suspended 
lightly above his head, are contained 20,000 lenses, each one of 
which transmits its image. Then, again, examine with your micro- 
scope the feathery down and dazzling colors of his wings, direct 
the magnifying lens to the interior of a little flower, a heart's-ease 
or violet, and see what provision is made there for this amazing 
sense of sight. The wonders of Aladdin's land of precious jewels 
are poor compared with what this dull earth affords for the fine 
perceptions of this little favorite of heaven. My God, I thank thee, 
that thou hast thus given nie a visible demonstration of the possi- 
bility of that similar change which thou hast promised to man, and 
shown me, even here, how the same senses may be infinitely en- 
larged and perfected in a different state of being. The omniscience 
of the Deity we believe in, because he must have foreknown all 
these things when, as yet, none of them were made ; else could he 
not have made them. His omnipresence is displayed in the same 
way. His Spirit must necessarily have been every where working 
with equal power to bring all things forth in equal perfection, pro- 
portion and connexion. 

The popular notion that God has some form of a spiritual sub- 
stance, of which the physical form of man is an image, is contrary 
to the ubiquity or omnipresence of the Deity, and merely arises 
from the moral image of God in man being figuratively spoken of 
in Scripture, and only perceived to exist in man as operating 
through physical organs. If wisdom, power and goodness in man 



LECTURE III. 27 

require feet to move with, eyes to see with, hands to work with, 
&c, we naturally think of a Being who has left the evidences 
of his presence in many places, that he walks, (or, according 
to human language, moves by means of feet,) that he who 
sees must see with eyes, that he who works must work with 
hands. But all this is contrary to the infinite being of God ; 
for that Being has no resemblance to man, who is all head, all 
hands, all feet; and this he must necessarily be, who sees all 
things, hears all things, and exercises his creating and sustain- 
ing power every where, equally, at all times, and in all places. 
Take, for an instance, (though an inadequate one,) the creation of 
the many systems of stars, or solar systems, which astronomy has 
made known to us ; they are all so made, that by working together 
like the wheels of a watch, they keep each other balanced, and 
regulate each other's motions ; leave out one for an instant, and the 
others must be thrown into confusion. Now, suppose a being like 
man, but capable of making worlds ; and suppose him, with his 
hands moulding a sun, to be the centre of a system ; who, then, are 
engaged at the same time, to mete out the heavens with a span, to 
set the planets in their places, and to hold each orb with its attend- 
ant satellites in their due distances, until they be all arranged, and 
ready for their " mystic dance." All the use which we can make 
of the finite organs, through which God has been pleased to enable 
us to see his holy attributes, is to contemplate his moral and intel- 
lectual character, without pretending to compass his infinity. 

" No man can find out God to perfection." We can and do see 
that he is good ; but how good, none but himself can know. Wise 
we know he is ! but how wise, finite creatures can never know. 
Powerful, all nature proves him ! but how powerful, could we live 
throughout all ages, and through all space, with the most extensive 
organs of perception with which a creature could be gifted, we 
could, even then, know nothing but what was to be learned from 
the putting forth of his mighty energies in acts of creation and 
government. 

The infinite deep of that great fountain whence all wisdom, 
power and goodness flow can never be revealed. Yet how won- 
derfully has he suggested to our minds this his inscrutable attribute 
of infinity, by the opposite quality in ourselves ; for we see that 
God is infinite, not by the extension of our faculties, but by his 
causing our desire for the knowledge of himself to transcend the 
limits of our intelligence. We perceive that the causes of things 
which we naturally desire to look into, and search for, in vain, 
must be perfectly known to God. Thus commences within us the 
perception that the creature is limited — the Creator unlimited, or 
infinite. We follow him with increasing wonder, admiration, and 
desire, as the immensity of his divine attributes are opening upon 
us, until we come to the boundaries of our intelligence, and, when 



28 POPULAR LECTURES. 

suddenly arrested by the insuperable barrier of our finite nature, 
we, as it were, stretch forth, vainly, our desiring arms towards the 
distant good, and return from the passion of disappointed desire, to 
the humiliating, but improving perception, of the infinite distance 
which separates us from our God. At such moments we learn to 
" be humble and be wise." By such means are our souls bound, in 
the eternal cords of holy desire, to the throne in which concentrate 
all the aspirations of our being after the wisdom, power and good- 
ness which we perceive to be alone existing in the High and Lofty 
One inhabiting eternity, whose name is Holy. 

1. How is the being of God made evident to us ? 2. What do we mean by 
the work of chance ? 3. What works imply wisdom ? 4. What implies 
power? 5. What leads us unavoidably to believe in a self-existing First 
Cause ? 6. Why do we conclude the First Cause to be self-existing? 7. Why 
do we conclude God to be uncreated and eternal ? 8. If there had "been a time 
when nothing existed, what would have ensued ? 9. Where do we discover 
the goodness of God ? 10. What are wisdom, power and goodness ? 11. Can 
they exist by themselves ? 12. Of what are they qualities ? 13. What then do we 
mean by God? 14. How do we acquire the ideas of such qualities ? 15. Does 
the notion of an eternal necessity of nature alter the case? Why? 16. Why 
then notice it? 17. What are we certain of from observation? 18. How do 
we learn the unity of God ? 19. What have astronomers discovered of the 
solar system? 20. What did Bode determine by reasoning? 21. How were 
his suggestions confirmed ? 22. What appears most wonderful in the vegetable 
world ? 23. How do you prove that a bud taken from a cherry tree contains 
all the parts necessary to a perfect cherry tree ? 24. What is said of the struc- 
ture of animals generally e ? 25. What of the colt? 26. What of birds ? 27. 
What of the chrysalis of the butterfly ? 28. How many legs has a caterpillar, 
and why so many? 29. How many eyos ? Why has it a poison? 60. What 
do you discover in its sides with a microscope ? 31. What change takes 
place when it arrives at the maturity of its being? 32. If you keep the chry- 
salis a few days what happens? 33. Is it exactly the same with the cater- 
pillar? 34. How many legs has the butterfly ? 35. What change has occurred 
in its mouth ? 36. Does he see, how many eyes has he ? 37. How are they 
discovered ? If you examine the interior of a flower with a microscope, what 
do you see ? 39. If the butterfly has ten thousand times the vision we have, 
how must the flowers look to him ? 40. Of what is the change of the butterfly 
a visible demonstration? 41. Why do we believe in the omniscience of the 
Deity ? 42. How is his omnipresence displayed ? 43. Why do persons com- 
monly think God has a form like man ? 44. What attribute is it contrary to ! 
45. Why can it not be so? 46. Would he not require help if he worked with 
a pair of hands ? 47. What is the knowledge of God that we can have ? 4S. 
What can we never have? 49. How do we discover his infinity? 50, What 
effect has the discovery? 51. How does this produce a desire for heaven > 



LECTURE IV. 29 

LECTURE IV. 

ON THE NATURE OF MAN AS A COMPOUND BEING, 

So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the 
law of sin. — Rom. vii., 25. 

So far, my dear young friends, we have been engaged in follow- 
ing out that portion of our inquiry which is essential in justifying 
the ways of God to man, by the exhibition of that moral standard, 
which he has established from the beginning. We have now to 
inquire why, if man has always had this standard, it has been de- 
serted by him 1 

Heretofore we have confined our attention to the revelation of 
himself, which God has made to the reasoning soul of man, through 
his visible creation, to prove that this revelation leaves man "with- 
out excuse" since, as says St. Paul, " Knowing God, he worship- 
ped him not as God." 

To ascertain why he has not continued to obey the divine law, 
and conform to the divine standard, our attention is next to be di- 
rected to the examination of that most wonderful of creatures, man 
himself — a compound being, related by spiritual intelligence to 
Deity, and allied by material nature to the worm of the dust : by 
the spirit, capable of immortality ; by the flesh, the heir of a life so 
brief, that its transient period is to be compared to every thing 
that is most fleeting and perishable in nature : a vapor floating in 
the summer's sky ; a little flower, blooming in the morning, and in 
the evening withered and faded away ; a dew-drop sparkling on a 
trembling leaf; or, " as the snow falls in the river — a moment white, 
then gone for ever." Such are the apparently incongruous, but 
certainly not incompatible elements of man's compound being — 
not incompatible, because they do exist in most perfect union. As 
a preparation for a close investigation of his nature and powers, 
we will consult two sources, not huge volumes of scholastic meta- 
physics, which " lead to bewilder and dazzle to blind," but nature, 
with divine revelation as our interpreter, shall be our text book. 
We have already said that man was made in the image of God. 
God never having revealed any thing of himself but his attri- 
butes, and the finite, material form of man being altogether un- 
suitable for an infinite spirit, we must believe that the sense, in 
which we are said to have been created in his image, related solely 
to the resemblance between our moral qualities and his divine at- 
tributes ; which resemblance is manifest to reason, and asserted by 
revelation. Had man been a spirit, possessing no other nature but 
that moral nature which is derived from God, it is evident that he 
must have been perfectly spiritual in his will, and, consequently, by 

3* 



SO POPULAR LECTURES. 

a necessity of his nature, must have been always governed by a 
•Conformity to the will of God. But the creature man was to be 
freed from this necessary conformity, therefore did his Creator cast 
a veil of flesh over the spirit, that it might see through a glass, 
darkly ; that it might exercise faith as the evidence of things not 
seen, hope as the foretaste of rewards promised to obedience ; and 
that it might learn, from experience of its own compound nature, 
this, the greatest of all truths : that since God is perfect in the at- 
tributes of spirit, wisdow, power and goodness, any possible de- 
parture from his will must of necessity be evil ; consequently, that 
freedom in the creature {if exercised) must be evil, except as it 
produces a willing submission to the government of God. But 
we must now endeavor to analyze more closely, and more philo- 
sophically, this subject. Man, then, as a compound being, is com- 
posed of two distinct principles, perceptible by comparison with 
other creatures, and with God himself. He stands, by his natural 
physical perfections, at the head of the scale of animated creatures ; 
by his moral nature he is separated from them. These two prin- 
ciples (one of which is a gift, not a creation,) are so distinct, that 
the first can exist and subsist without the last. 

The first which comes into operation, and which we propose 
first to examine, is the physical. By this, he is an animal com- 
posed of certain imperfect and corruptible elements, which tend na- 
turally to dissolution; but these have certain organic principles, 
and also certain principles derived from the senses established 
among them, which operate for the preservation of their con- 
nexion. The principles of his animal nature are the same found in 
other animals, and are intended for his temporal preservation and 
welfare. They may be classed as appetites, or physical propensi- 
ties, and passions ; or relative conditions of the animal nature, pro- 
duced by indulgence in the appetites. The appetites are two, ap- 
petite for food, and appetite for society. Appetite for food is the 
first of these organic principles. This principle is not alone good, 
it is absolutely necessary, and its operation commences before any 
other principle can be exercised. For, at the instant when, in the 
sacred impulse of a mother's love, she clasps her helpless infant to 
her bosom, warm as maternal love gushes forth the sustenance 
prepared by its qualities to excite the appetite of this helpless and 
dependent creature. This appetite for food, growing with his 
growth, is afterwards to stimulate him to fulfil that law of his 
being, in conformity with which God is said to have created Adam, 
'■'•because there was not a man to till the earthy And this beauti- 
ful adaptation of his nature to his position in creation would have 
continued to produce nothing but good, had not sin converted his 
Eden into a ivilderness, his appetites into passions, his love for God 
into fear, and palsied both his animal and moral energies. It is 
by the abuse of a good and essential principle of his nature, that 



LECTURE IV. 



31 



man converts the appetite for food, into the vices of gluttony and 
Epicurean sensuality. 

" When the child, whom scaring sounds molest, 
Clings close and closer to its mother's breast," 

There arises a delightful association in his feelings, between the 
presence of individuals of his own species, and personal safety ; 
and the agreeable association is the stimulant of a principle, which 
may be justly termed the social appetite, and which undoubtedly 
lays the foundation of domestic and social affections, and sub- 
sequently of social compacts, and submission to the regulations 
of society. These are the two appetites, for food and for con- 
nexion with our own species, and how fully these are partici- 
pated by other animals, we need not stop to observe. Out of 
them arises the carnal will, which is a mere moving principle, 
impelling the appetites to seek their gratification. If you would 
be strongly impressed with the nature of this principle, which 
we partake with the brutes, look out at the two great mastiffs, 
which, stimulated by appetite for food, are tearing each other to 
pieces for the same savory morsel. These mastiffs have a natural 
propensity for social intercourse, and are even seen to carry it so 
far as to exhibit individual attachments, and espouse each other's 
quarrels ; but the appetites are blind propensities, and that which 
is stimulated by the exciting cause being present, governs the brute 
and the brutal man. You all perhaps recollect the story of the 
lion and the little dog in the Tower. Some one visiting the grand 
menagerie of the Tower in London, threw a poor little dog into the 
cage of a fine lion, thinking to see it instantly devoured ; but, on 
the contrary, the lion caressed the little visiter, and seemed delight- 
ed with his company. Week after week they lived together in the 
closest friendship ; the lion never failing to spare his little favorite 
a portion of his food. Unfortunately, the keeper forgot to feed the 
lion for several days, and the prisoners were both nearly famished ; 
when he came, and threw in a piece of meat, the little dog sprang 
at and began to devour it : the lion, stimulated by hunger, seized 
and killed him in a moment ; when appearing to be struck with 
grief and remorse, he laid down, would not permit the dog to be 
removed, refused to be fed, and actually died of grief: thus prov- 
ing, in the most striking manner, the force of these two animal 
principles. The most brutal animals are most governed by the ap- 
petites for food; the noblest are most operated upon by the appetite 
for company. 

The vis inertia, or propensity to continue in our present state, is 
a strong physical principle of great power, but scarcely to be con- 
sidered as an animal principle. It belongs to the dust. Like every 
other principle of creation, it is good ; as a corrective of animal 
energy, it is good ; as a means of keeping up good habits, it is 



32 POPULAR LECTURES. 

good ; but always evil when in excess. The passions are nothing 
but excessive impulses of the animal will, varied by the objects 
which excite them, stimulating us to violence or unlawful excess. 
Man is recognized by Scripture, as well as by reason, as an animal, 
and, as such, many terms, expressive of his nature, are applied to 
him. The carnal man, in which sense St. Paul says, "in me," 
(that is, in the flesh,) " dwelleth no good thing." The old man with 
his deeds — the first man — the old Adam — " natural brute beasts," 
— all which terms allude to the fact that, " that which is spiritual is 
not first," but "that which is carnal," L e., the principles of the ani- 
mal nature come first into operation, and it is not through these 
that God reveals himself to us, but through our moral nature, 
which he makes in his own image. Having, as the son of Sirach 
beautifully expresses it, " set his eye upon our hearts, that he might 
show us the beauty of his works." Carnal nature is not subject 
to a spiritual law, but only to the rule and government of the ap- 
petites. This composes the animal man, and it is only a superad- 
dition of intelligence from God, and a spark of divine wisdom, 
power and goodness, communicated from the Deity, that gives 
birth within him to a moral principle, which makes him capable of 
being a new creature. This superaddition of the spiritual or mo- 
ral principle, is what we suppose to be meant by the creation of 
man "in his own image;" and it includes the intellectual part, which 
receives not its suggestions and impulses from the senses, but 
merely through them ; and contemplates the visible things of the 
creation, not with the sense of delight which -they afford the carnal 
man, but, by its own faculties of reflection and attention, receiving 
from them impressions of the power, wisdom and goodness of their 
Creator. 

If you have now distinct impressions of what is meant by the 
compound nature of man, you can hardly have failed to perceive 
that one principle is more noble and elevated than the other ; that 
one is the source of pure and imperishable pleasures, the other of 
low and transient gratifications; that one is given for temporal 
purposes, and must end with them ; that the other prepares us for 
an imperishable state and celestial society: that "its waj T s are 
ways of pleasantness, its paths are paths of peace," and its end is 
an eternity of glory. Therefore, should any conflict arise in you 
between these two principles, your true interest, and your lasting 
and perfect happiness, will be best secured by a ready sacrifice of 
the carnal to the spiritual nature : of the impulses of the senses to 
the dictates of the understanding. To show you the possibility of 
so doing, I recommend to your attention the example of the Roman 
centurion, mentioned in the tenth chapter of the Acts. Think not, 
however, I mean you to infer that this principle is sufficient for 
your Christian character. The centurion's cultivation of it made 
his prayers and alms acceptable to God ; but it was still necessary 



LECTURE IV. 33 

that he should receive that degree of spiritual grace, which is only- 
given by Jesus Christ ; and, therefore, we are to consider the culti- 
vation of the moral principle in our nature, by the study of moral 
philosophy, as but the preparation of the heart, the making ready a 
good soil, in which the seed of the word may spring up and bring 
forth its richest and most abundant fruit, when, by the grace of God, 
it is sown there. Know, then, that your labor is not in vain in the 
Lord, that when you have used well the original Light, " that light- 
eth every man which cometh into the world," as St. John affirms, 
that which is above the powers of your derived moral nature, God 
has promised to superadd, and will certainly do so for Christ's 
sake : but that should you despise and neglect the grace originally 
bestowed, by which you are naturally drawn to the congenial in- 
fluences of Christianity, even that which you had, "the spirit 
which perceives the things of the spirit," shall be taken away ; 
and you shall be reduced to the condition of natural brute beasts, 
made to be taken and destroyed, and must naturally perish in 
your own corruption. 

1. What is man ? 2. What is he compared to ? 3. Why, if the elements of 
man's nature are incongruous, are they not incompatible ? 4. What is the sol? 
resemblance between man and God ? 5. Had man been a spirit what would 
have resulted? 6. Why had he an animal nature? 7. If God is perfect in 
wisdom and goodness, what must departure from his will be ? 8. How then 
can it produce good ? 9. How do we discover the compound nature of man ? 
10. What does the animal nature make him ? 11. Are these two principles 
distinct? 12. To what does animal nature tend? 13. Are its principles dif- 
ferent from those of other animals ? 14. What are the first of them ? 15. 
What the first of the appetites ? 16. Was this at first good ? 17. How came 
it evil? 18. How is the social appetite developed? 19. What is the carnal 
will? 20. Where do we find its character illustrated ? 21. What o-overns the 
brute, and the brutal man ? 22. What is the story of the lion and little dog 
and what its moral ? 23. Which appetite governs the most brutal animals ? 
24. Which does the' social appetite operate most upon ? 25. What is the vis 
inertia ? 26. Js it an animal principle ? 27. What is it good for ? 28. What 
are the passions ? 29. What do the Scriptures say of the animal nature ? 30. 
What do we understand by the creation of man in God's image ? 31. Does it 
include the intellectual part ? 32. What is the difference between them ? 33, 
Why is one of these principles so much more noble than the other ? 34. How' 
-hen is our happiness best secured ? 35. Who is a fine example to prove this ? 
36. What are we taught by this example ? 37. If we cultivate our moral nature 
Wbti blessing may we be sure of? 38. If we despise and neglect it? 



34 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



LECTURE V. 



HUMAN NATURE CARNAL, PHYSICAL OR ANIMAL NATURE. 

The carnal mind is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the law of Got3, 
neither indeed can be. — Romans, viii., 7. 

Having ventured upon a view which simplifies all the phenomena 
of our physical impulses, or animal mind, so far as to class them 
under the two heads of " appetites" and " passions," we must exa- 
mine the carnal nature a little more particularly, before we ad- 
vance farther. 

By appetites, then, we mean blind animal instincts, and we have 
asserted these to be two — appetite for food, and appetite for 
society. The first will be readily admitted, and the last requires 
but to be examined, to be also acceded to. Ask an experienced 
nurse, and she will tell you, that in a few days after the birth of an 
evinces a preference for the nurse's lap, and, if indulged, 
ases to be laid even to sleep in its cradle. It becomes 
levoted to the nurse by preference ; and, from childhood to 
?, it is observed how little the attachments of the human 
pear to be controlled by merit in the object, or by the re- 
mote interest of the subject. The mother often loves her weakliest, 
her least interesting child, most ; because the instinctive impulses 
of maternal love have been most exercised towards her most de- 
pendent offspring ; and all our appetites grow with exercise. It is 
said that seeing and fondling her infant are essential to the highest 
degree of this feeling, which, although the sacred source of the 
finest sentiments of the human soul, is originally but one modifi- 
cation of the social appetite, of which the white bear has, perhaps, 
given as strong and affecting an exhibition, as has ever been made 
by a human being. 

A missionary, says a traveller in China, told me that he 
found the prejudices of early education so strong, that he cculd not 
convince his converts that they were bound to abandon the horrid 
custom of exposing their infants, which in China is thought to be a 
duty, whenever a man has more than he can well provide for. " I 
went one day," said he, " to see a convert just as an infant was born. 
When the father was informed of the fact, he deliberately ordered 
that it should be exposed. In vain I reasoned, preached and en- 
treated ; he maintained it to be his duty ; he had ten children, and 
could provide for no more. Finding him immovable, I said: 
1 Then / have a duty to perform too. The poor little creature 
must be brought here that I may baptize it.' The child was 
brought, and I directed the father to hold it in his arms, while I 
performed the ceremony. I soon saw that holding his infant, and 



LECTURE V. 35 

looking in its face, produced a relaxation of his feelings ; and, to 
give natural affection time to operate, I prolonged the service as 
much as possible. When it was over, he said, 'Take the child to 
its mother ; I must do the best I can for it.' " This was a triumph 
of the principle of natural affection, awakened by its exercise. 

Those with whom we came most constantly and closely into 
contact in childhood, are those to whom we are most attached. 
The nurse and the mother, the brother and sister, have the deepest 
hold on our hearts ; and, in after life, if we recognize a new modifi- 
cation of natural affection, which we justly dignify with the name 
of sentiment, it is because reason and judgment approve and con- 
firm the kindly impulses of social feeling, while they chasten and 
correct their tendency to excess. 

The natural man then is governed, in the first instance, by two 
appetites: the first for nourishment, the second for social inter- 
course. By thejirst, life is preserved; and it is a principle which 
can be modified only by degrees. Without undue stimulation, it is 
but a lawful and useful inclination to supply the wants of exhaust- 
ed nature ; but, if too much pampered, it becomes the source of 
fatal diseases of body and mind. The social principle is even still 
more dangerous. In the commencement, it also is perfectly good ; 
but, if induged to excess, it causes great and terrible mischiefs. 
In this form it is called a passion. Belonging to it are all the con- 
comitants of love of dress, riches, desire for power, esteem, &c. 
These things all being, originally, only valuable as they are useful, 
or as tending to make us more interesting in the eyes of our fellow- 
creatures, if they acquire a fictitious value, it is from habit and 
custom, and not from any natural propensity for them. 

Thus, my dear children, if I am correct in my observations, and 
the principles I have laid down, I think you must perceive that it 
would be most shameful, should the gross and sensual part of your 
being, which is operated upon solely by appetites, govern the noble 
and elevated part, which is the temple that God delights to dwell 
in. Besides, God has said, " If any man defile the temple of God, 
Cwhich temple ye are,) him shall God destroy;" and it is certainly 
defiling your minds to give them up to the power of any sensual 
propensity, when God intended them to be governed by himself, 
through the spirit derived from him. 

I have now one more argument upon these general principles. 
We have seen that God has given us a spiritual nature, to which 
he has revealed himself, and that he has created in us an animal 
nature, to which he is not, and cannot be made known ; conse- 
quently, that we cannot serve him, except with the spirit ; and that 
necessarily, if we would please him, we must obey the spirit. But 
I beseech you now to meditate. Strip the appetites of all their 
paraphernalia, their crowns and sceptres, their wreaths and robes, 
which must all perish with them, and tell me in what do they end ? 
Is it not in the dust 1 



36 POPULAR LECTURES. 

In vain do poets throw the prismatic halo of genius and fancy 
around the fate of those who sacrifice existence at the shrine of 
love or ambition. These principles, though they should have been 
refined, in the crucible of mind, from their grossest sensuality, and 
thus have deservedly acquired the rank of sentiments, could never 
deserve to be exalted to the government of our being. I would 
have you reflect what would be the effect upon the world, if every 
human being in existence would simultaneously adopt the princi- 
ple proposed by our philosophy, and bring the natural man wholly 
under the control of the spiritual man, delighting to use the senses 
in studying the works of God, and in imitating his divine attri- 
butes, by care and labor using the natural man with his animal 
powers, as a fine machine, for the welfare and felicity of his fellow 
beings. Do you not perceive how much human nature would be 
elevated by this destination; and how much human happiness 
would be increased by such a revolution in moral government ! 
Do you not see that earth would be heaven, and men, angels ? 
And is not this, I beseech you, sufficient evidence to your minds, 
that these are the principles which you were created to acknow- 
ledge, and to be governed by ! And that this is the reason why 
your Savior says, " Yea, why, even of yourselves, judge ye not 
what is right V While God commands, "Be ye holy, for I am 
holy:' 

Cultivate then, I beseech you, this glorious privilege of your 
being, by means of your senses ; study God in all his works, and 
early form the habit of associating him in all your thoughts. 
When the glorious sun breaks through the scattering shades of 
night, rousing the feathered choir to their matin song ; when the 
early dew of the morning hangs, like diamonds, on the opening 
flowers, and your awakening senses drink in deep delight, then 
let the thought, my Father created all these objects of delight, and 
placed me in this paradise of pleasure, giving me senses u to each 
fine impulse feelingly alive," bind closer every chord that unites you 
to your God. And when " still evening comes, and in her sober 
livery are all things clad;" when "glows the fermament with living 
sapphires, and Hesperus, that leads the starry host, rides brightest ; 
what time the moon rising in clouded majesty (apparent queen,) 
unveils her peerless light, and o'er the dark her silver mantle 
throws," then "let expressive silence muse his praise:" or when 
the voice of nature hushed, "the pomp of groves, and garniture of 
fields" gone by ; when howling blasts hurl the dead leaves in cir- 
cling eddies through the frosty air;" when piercing cold has 
driven you in closer circles round the blazing hearth, and. cheered 
by the glowing embers and the ruddy flame, a sympathetic smile 
brightens on every cheek, then, weaving your varied garlands 
perennial flowers, culled by the muses from fields of science, forget 
not, oh! forget not whose Providence has circled your lives with 
such an endless and intricately woven chain of ever- varying bless- 



LECTURE V. 37 

ings! Who provided the all-pervading principle which warms 
your trembling limbs, and lights the hours of darkness, and bids 
the lamp of study glow, and cheers your social fireside ? Who 
shut up, unseen, unfelt, the latent heat in cold combustibles, and 
taught mankind to bring it forth, and guide and govern it for his 
own purposes, binding its terrific force with iron power, and bend- 
ing it to work his sovereign will 1 Who formed those noble hearts, 
those elevated geniuses, those penetrating intellects, those splendid 
imaginations, among which your youthful minds are daily feasting, 
as the bee amidst the flowers! Who planted the social prin- 
ciple which has brought you from distant regions to live in 
sweet communion here? Who kindles the love for knowledge, by 
which the brighter and brighter day of his own infinite effulgence 
pours in upon our raptured souls, melting them down by the 
warmth of his own love, and setting the indelible impress of his 
image upon them ? 

'Tis he who says, " My child, give me thy heart," 
'Tis he who says, " Wilt thou not henceforth say, 
'My Father, thou art the guide of my youth.' " 

1. What is meant by appetites? 2. How do we ascertain that there is a 
social appetite ? 3. Why does a mother love often her most uninteresting child 
most? 4. What is said of an infant's preferences? 5. What animal has 
given the strongest evidences of maternal feeling ? 6, What is the story of a 
missionary? 7. What does it prove? 8. To whom are we most attached in 
life ? 9. If this is animal feeling, what is sentiment? 10. What is the use of 
the appetites ? 11. When do they become mischievous? 12. What is love of 
dress, riches, power, esteem ? 13. What makes them valuable ? 14. Whence 
then their fictitious value ? 15. Should the animal nature ever govern the 
moral ? 16. Why is it threatened with death to defile the mind with sensual 
pleasures? 17. Is God revealed to the carnal nature? 18. In what do the 
gratifications of the appetites end ? 19. Are those to be admired who sacrifice 
existence to love or ambition ? 20. How should we use the animal nature ? 
21. What would be the effect of our doing so? 22. Of what is this sufficient 
evidence ? 23. What effect should all our pleasures have ? 24. What should 
we never forget ? 25. Who is it says, " My child, give me thy heart ?" 26. What 
should we say in return ? 



OO POPULAR LECTURES. 

LECTURE VI. 

ON THE ORIGIN OF EVIL IN THE FREE AGENCY OF MAN. 

His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. — Job, xxvl., 13. 
Oat of" the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, murders, &c. — Matthew, 
xv., 19. 

My dear young friends : 

You are now, I hope, prepared to see and feel the necessity for 
studying the Divine Being and your own nature, that you may be 
certain your moral standard is such as will make you pleasing in 
the sight of God ; since it is he alone who has the power to make 
you happy or miserable through time and eternity. There are two 
points in your duty to him, which demand to be closely studied, 
that they may be suitably performed ; these are— honoring and 
obeying him. How can you honor him, if you have false and un- 
worthy view r s of him 1 How can you obey him, if you do not 
know his will, and how can you know his will, if you have false 
views of his character 1 It is therefore but a just and prudent cau- 
tion which I would give you, never to believe any thing of God 
that would be contrary to the principles of moral truth and inte- 
grity which he has implanted in the mind of man. Understand me 
well, I do not mean any tiring that is mysterious, from being above 
the capacity of the finite creature, as of the union of body and 
mind, which is certainly true, and yet entirely beyond our compre- 
hension : but I mean any thing which involves a moral contradic- 
tion; for two propositions which involve a contradiction cannot 
both be true. It cannot be that God is perfectly good, and yet that 
he wills that which the imperfect goodness of human nature revolts 
at — that which in a man would be viewed with detestation by his 
fellow creatures. Could a man intentionally contrive and effect a 
plan for making another wicked and miserable, and leave him no 
escape, we should view him with inexpressible horror. God, then, 
since he is perfectly good, cannot have designed that any of his 
creatures should be wicked and miserable. 

If it would be detestable in man, as a sovereign, to amputate the 
limbs of his subjects, and then condemn them to perish for not 
arising and performing active duties, which in the caprice of his 
despotism he had assigned them, so would it be in God, to inflict 
upon us, even here, the torments of accusing conscience, unless we 
were endowed with capacity to do our duty. We cannot be guilty, 
unless we are free. Since, then, God has created us so that we 
cannot avoid believing and feeling that we are guilty, and suffering 
remorse for our bad actions, we dare not doubt that we are indeed 
free, especially as, in the Scriptures, he declares that his ways are 
equal to us, and our ways are unequal ; and that he would " rather 



LECTURE VI. 39 

that the wicked should turn from his wickedness, and live." But 
we have sufficient evidences in the appointments of Providence, 
and the declarations of revelation, to satisfy us that God is good, 
and man, as a work of God, should also be good. How then came 
evil into existence? Is there any cause independent of God to 
which it may be attributed ? Certainly not ; such a supposition is 
absurd, and profane. Evil is not a principle of creation, nor any 
quality of created things, but a relative condition of things, arising 
out of the free agency of man. God created a chain of animated 
beings, from the doubtful toophites (which have never yet been de- 
termined by naturalists to belong to animal existences) up to Deity 
itself. Next below angelic intelligences, but destined finally to sur- 
pass them, is man. He obtains this pre-eminence by the knowledge 
of good and evil ; which is, in fact, nothing more nor less than a 
knowledge from experience of the essential difference between 
God and his creatures ; between spirit and flesh ; between moral 
and animal nature. "And God said, Behold, man is become as one 
of us, to know good from evil." A moral sentiment should unite 
the creature to his Creator ; which sentiment should combine reve- 
rence for his great power, gratitude for his great goodness, and 
obedience, from a rational perception of the superior knowledge 
which the Creator must possess, and of his disinterested desire to 
promote the true happiness of his creatures. 

God created man subject to all the laws of animal nature, and 
thus formed a good creation, the most perfect of animals. In this 
he created no evil Afterwards he communicated to him a higher 
and spiritual mind : here again was no created evil ; but these two 
were opposite, the one to the other, and then originated the evil 
Not that either was positively evil ; but that choosing the lower, 
when informed of the higher good, he was conscious of sinning 
against himself; and when by doing so he disobeyed the command 
of his Maker, he was made conscious of having sinned against him 
also. St. Augustine very justly observes, " Every creature of God 
is good, but when good things reverse their order and place, evil 
enters." Evil, then, is not a positive thing ; it is but a relative or 
privative principle. As darkness is the privative, or taking away, 
of light, cold the privative of heat, death the privative of life, so is 
evil the privative of good ; and as such it is merely permitted as a 
necessary constituent of a system of free agency. To understand 
this, we must admit that good is that principle of order and ar- 
rangement in the constitution of all things, by which all their parts 
hold their respective places, and perform their legitimate offices. 
The goodness of a watch is that principle of order and arrange- 
ment, by which all the wheels, chains and springs work together, 
so perfectly as to tell, without deviation, the time ; but if a spring 
relaxes, or a wheel starts from its place, the condition of the watch 
is evil, and the evil extends to all who depend upon its just per- 
formance of the office assigned it. The difference between moral 



40 POPULAR LECTURES. 

and physical evil is, that one is intended to be the corrective of the 
other. It is by being subject to a derangement of the natural or- 
der of physical things, that we are made most sensible of the great 
wisdom and goodness displayed in the laws of physical nature. 
A man uses his eyes for years, and hardly ever thinks of the won- 
derful contrivance of vision ; but let a blow in his eye throw the 
parts of it into a state of derangement, and soon the anguish he 
suffers forces him to reflection on the wonderfully constructed in- 
strument of sight ; and the still more astonishing preservation of 
its delicate mechanism during a life of dangers. Health is the state 
of order in which the organized body is created to exist. When 
this is disturbed, or disarranged by interruption in any of the or- 
ganic functions, when digestion is arrested, or perspiration check- 
ed, or the arrangement of parts destroyed by fracture of a bone 
or laceration of flesh, then the condition of the body is evil ; and 
the evil extends by the relations of society to others. The mother 
is out of health, and cannot take due care of her children, and they 
suffer in body and mind. The father is disabled, and his family 
are reduced to want, &c. 

Love, harmony, mutual appliances and assistances are essential 
to the good of human society. If any of these principles of order 
and combination cease to operate, the condition of society, by the 
obstruction of good, becomes evil. In the same way are all physi- 
cal and all external evils to be explained, by the permission of evil, 
not by its decree : as the wheel starts from its place and produces 
disorder in the watch, although it was no part of the design of the 
artist that it should do so. Let us now consider, that if the attri- 
butes of God — wisdom, power and goodness — be perfect, then any 
possible deviation or departure from the will of God must be evil ; 
because it is a privative of the good government of God, who 
knows what is best for his own creatures. Freedom, then, in the 
creature, being the power to act contrary to the law of God, must, 
in its exercise, be evil ; because it must introduce disorder into the 
good government of the Deity. If a free agent, then, means a 
creature who can act in opposition to the will of the Creator, it is 
no derogation from the power of the Creator to say, that he could 
not create a free agent without the power to do evil A free agent, 
however, who, from experience and reflection, is brought to per- 
ceive the divine perfections, and voluntarily to conform his nature 
and conduct to them, is evidently a much more glorious creation 
than could have originated in any system of necessity. Omnipo- 
tence itself could not possibly create, by a sudden act of arbitrary 
power, a free agent who should, from the period of his creation, be 
a perfect creature. Free agency consists in a knowledge of good 
and evil, and a full and free choice between them. We cannot com- 
prehend that any abstract instruction, as to some supposable state 
which does not exist, could possibly inform the mind of the nature 
and effects of sin : they must be seen and perceived to be known 



LECTURE VI. 41 

or chosen ; and it is the province of the moral nature to see and 
perceive them. It is the moral nature which, in its struggles to 
bring the physical nature into reasonable subjection, becomes con- 
vinced that God has not given it any inherent power to do so ; but 
that, to maintain his own sovereignty, he has promised to grant us 
the power " when we ask it," by bestowing his Spirit in such mea- 
sure as will enable us to be victorious in every conflict. He has 
placed so many checks and correctives around the agent, that he is 
enabled just to see enough to strengthen the suggestions of the 
moral nature and the revelations of God ; and thus to curb the im- 
pulses of his animal nature; but still, so few, that he has need to 
make a voluntary exertion of his natural powers, and call up his 
past experience to aid in resisting present temptations, and finally 
to throw himself behind the shield of faith for safety. From the 
existence and beautiful balance of moral and physical nature he is 
free ; but the Spirit of God continually suggests to him, that he 
should follow the moral or god-like nature, and be governed by the 
spiritual will. The creation of a perfection, arising out of a perfect 
knowledge of good and evil, must be a gradual creation. It re- 
quires ages of accumulated knowledge to enlighten ages of fiery 
probation, to purify one who is to be taught by the exercise of this 
double nature to discriminate and choose perfection. Personal fa- 
miliarity with evil renders the conscience callous ; therefore, the 
experience of others is the most efficient means of producing a 
good effect from the knowledge of good and evil, but the expe- 
rience of others affords no trial of virtue : — 

' "He who has never known misfortune, has never known 

Himself, or his own weakness." 

It is therefore of a happy mixture of probationary trials, with 
knowledge derived from the experience of mankind, that the sys- 
tem of free agency is composed. Permit me to offer you a simple 
illustration of the divine government of the free agent. A cer- 
tain nobleman had two sons at one birth. In this he rejoiced ex- 
ceedingly, as he had no other children. He said, " I will bring up 
these my sons in all the wisdom of the law and the prophets ; I will 
walk before them in all righteousness as an example ; and when I 
am old they will return me honor and praise from men, and God 
will bless me with a sight of their prosperity." His sons loved the 
company of their good father, walked in his precepts, honored his 
wisdom, obeyed his commands, and were the delight of all who 
beheld them. Then the king heard of their virtuous education, 
and wrote to their father privately, " I have heard of thee and thy 
sons by all men's report, that there are no youths like unto thy 
sons ; and now, behold, I have no son, but one daughter, fair, obe- 
dient, and dearly beloved ; and I would have thee instruct thy sons 
in all things which belong to the dignitv of a prince ; and when 

4* 



42 POPULAR LECTURES. 

they are of age, thou shalt send me the most worthy, and I will 
give him my daughter, and exalt him to be my heir. Thou shalt 
not reveal to them all that I have in store for my elect son, lest 
thou tempt them to heartless, external conformity, which is hypo- 
crisy ; but thou shalt prove their spirit and truth." Then the good 
father sent his sons to the royal college, but told them not all the 
king's will concerning them. At first he heard a good report of 
them both ; but by-and-by the one was drawn away by the plea- 
sures of the wicked, and forsook his father's counsels, while the 
other kept his father's precepts more and more diligently, considered 
the folly and ingratitude of sin, and daily increased in wisdom 
more and more. Then the father foreknew, that he would be the 
king's heir; and the election being left with him, he also did predes- 
tinate him for the same, and continued to prepare him for that 
honor. Had the father possessed perfect foreknowledge, he would 
from the beginning have also predestinated and prepared the same 
son ; but perfect foreknowledge is the attribute of none but Deity. 
That Omnipotence could not make a free agent good or happy, 
without his free consent and agreement, is a proposition contained 
in the term free agent. Both the existence and government of a 
free agent require the permission of evil, and this permission is so 
perfectly justified, by its producing a degree of virtue which could 
not exist without it, that the only question left is, how is it possible 
for the creature to be made capable of any thing contrary to the 
will of its Creator ? This is only to question the power of God. 
The conscience he has given us testifies that he has made us so. 
Moral principle urges that he ought to have done so. Revelation 
speaks throughout, from Adam to Judas, as if it were so. Christ 
weeps and laments that they would not permit him to save them ; 
and yet you hear men say, it cannot be so — how can it be so ? I 
know not hovj it can be so ; neither do I know how the mustard 
seed grows to be a great tree, overshadowing the earth. I know 
not even hoio I now guide my fingers according to the dictation of 
my mind. To admit, then, that man is free to do goGd or evil, is 
to submit to the dictates of conscience, common sense, and revela- 
tion : to deny that he can be so, is to limit the power of God, which 
it little becomes our ignorance to do. 

Reason, conscience, and revelation, all go to prove that man is 
« without excuse," because he has abused his freedom ; using, in 
spite of prohibitions and penalties, the permission of God to do evil, 
rather than obeying, under the sanctions and promises of the Deity, 
the high and holy privilege to do good. 

It becomes now our object to see how this view of divine go- 
vernment may be made to bear upon our moral philosophy. Shall 
we do evil that good may come of it ! Certainly not For God 
forbids evil ; and, when he allows his creatures liberty to do it, he 
himself overrules its effects for good ; but herein we are to imitate 



LECTURE VI. 43 

him in never exercising any government over our fellow creatures 
so despotically as to interfere with their free exercise of conscience ; 
nor should we keep any intelligent creature in such a state of igno- 
rance as to prevent the full growth of his moral nature ; since God 
himself has permitted his creatures to sin against him, and limited 
the exercise of his authority to making their sins subservient to his 
benevolent purposes for their own ultimate good and his glory. 

Judas was permitted to betray his Master, and Pilate to give him 
up to be crucified, and the Jews to crucify him, and out of their 
united crimes God produced the most majestic display of the triumph 
of his own immutable attributes. By giving up his Son into the 
hands of wicked men to be destroyed, he has saved a ruined world, 
and established an everlasting dominion of righteousness ; and, even 
better, he has given to every creature new means of detecting the 
sinful principle in his own heart, and made a way by which he may 
regain the purity of his moral nature, opening a living Fountain of 
holiness, from which every creature that lives may come and drink, 
and be holy as he is holy. 

Let us learn from this to watch continually; and, instead of being 
overcome of evil, let us not doubt that God, if we ask his aid, will 
enable us also to overcome evil by good. 

1. What is the object in studying God, and ourselves ? 2. What two points 
are most important? 3. What should we never believe of God? 4. Are not 
many things of him incomprehensible, and why ? 5. What then is it we are 
not to believe ? 6. What should we view with horror in man ? 7. Can we believe 
that God would torment us with conscience, unless we were free, and possessed 
the power to do our duty ? 8. Do the Scriptures sustain this ? 9. If God is good, 
and man a creature of God, how caine evil into existence ? 10. What is evil ? 
11. What is the difference between man and all other creatures ? 12. What is the 
natural tie between God and man ? 13. When man's animal nature was created, 
was it evil ? 14. When his spiritual nature was superadded was there evil in it? 
15. Whence, then, the evil ? 16. What does St. Augustine say ? 17. To what, 
then, may evil be compared ? 18. What is good ? 19. What is'the goodness of a 
watch? 20. When is the condition of the watch evil ? 21. How are we made most 
sensible of the wisdom and goodness of the creation ? 22. Wnat is health ? 
23. Is not a wound, or the breaking of a bone, positive evil ? 24. What are 
the moral principles of good in society ? 25. Why is departure from the will of 
God necessarily evil? 26. Why may we say Omnipotence could not create a 
free agent without the power to do evil ? 27. What is the most glorious of cre- 
ations"? 28. Why could not a free agent be always perfect? 29. What effect 
is produced by the struggles of the moral nature to govern the physical? 30. 
To what does this lead naturally ? 31. What continually aids the moral nature? 
32. Why does it require ages to produce a perfect free agent ? 33. Of what is 
the system of free agency composed? 34. What is the illustration of the no- 
bleman and his two sons ? 35. What is a proposition contained in the term free 
agent? 36. What do the existence and government of a free agent require? 
37. How is it justified? 38. What is then the sole question? 39. What is this 
to question ? 40. In spite of what proofs do men deny free agency? 41. 
What do they ask ? 42. Can we answer this inquiry ? 43. Why is man with- 
out excuse ? 44. Why then may we not do evil that good may come of it? 
45. How then shall we imitate the Deity in permitting evil ? 46. What were 
the effects of God's permitting Judas and Pilate and the Jews to put our Sa- 
vior to death ? 47. What are we to learn from this? 



44 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



A TABLE 

EXHIBITING THE ORIGIN OP THE PASSIONS. 
[Referred to in Lecture VII.] 



#$>&$#<$# ( NATURAL MAN, } ****** 

Q Hearing. <#> \ 

<§> Seeing. <#> < or 

<£> Smelling.* / 

Animal Man. 



} ***£< 

f ^Tastin? 
£ XFeelins 
/ ****;* 



* Appetite 

# for Food. ■ 



Habits arising from the Appetites. 
>******#>* 
Love of Riches. 
<* Lying. <g> 

Stealing, &c. <$ 



* Social 

* Appetite. 



<#>Teraperance<#> * Gluttony <$> 
Aiu eating and* * and <£> 

# drinking. * * Drunkenness. <g> 



* Natural Affection, <g> * Pride, Vanir^. 

* Benevolence. per-<$ *ty, unlawful* 
<$> formance of all so-<£> <g>love. unlaw-<#> 
<8>cial duties. * *ful friends'p.<#> 



4>The fair and<$> 
#noble proge-<8> 
<#>ny of tempe-* 
France are — * 
*Health, * 
^Strength, <8> 
*Comfortof * 
* body. * 
2,Usefulness, <g, 
^Serenity of <g, 
^ mind. <g, 
^Preservation^ 
<g, of the pi ea-<$> 
<x> sores of <$ 
^> appetite. $> 
■g>Respect of <g> 
<#> men. * 

^Virtues. <#> 
<$>Long life. 



Their off-< 

<#>spriug are a<#> <g> Who shall number the ex-<#> 

*mingled * *quisite and varied pleasures-?? 

■Strain of <& <$>which spring from the rich <#> 

*nameless & * ^fountain of social life, when * 

*shameful * <8>flo\vin^ only in the proper <& 

Prices, and * ^channels. ' * 

*their works,* <£> Domestic love with all its* 

,0, works of f°l-<g) *gentle, peaceful, rational en-* 

^ly, shame &^ *dearments, father, mother, sis-* 

Asin ; which.g, *ter, brother, wife, children,* 

^we will not«g, *friends. 

^even speak q * Its duties are care of depen-* <$> 



<#> Ambition, * 
*Love of re-<#> 
*verenee 5 of^> 
*esteem, of<8> 
^admiration, * 
Aof authority.* 



^>of, & which^ 
<g,soon end in,^, 
<$,death. <$> 



charity to the poor, 
^philanthropy, promoting peace j? 
^and good-will among states & * 
^individuals. Founding roads, * 
Xcanals, hospitals, agricultural ^ 



4>Love of * 

* Dress, * 

* Furniture,* 
<g> Equipages* 

HousesT * 

* Dancing. * 
Music, It "? 
all other $f 

*pleasures of^ 
♦ 



*sense. 



*Companv : 
*Talkine,' 
* Flattery, 



^societies. Giving to every liv- * 
Aing creature the means of en-* 
Xjoyment which God has in-* 
^tended for them. These plea-* 
Tsures tend to everlasting life. * *Scandal, £ 

>«********! t Fs £ii£T | 

Sovy, * 

.g>Self-conceit. — Unlawful love. For this see tragedies, histories, romances," poetry,* 
*moral writers. — Unlawful friendship produces treason against state, sacrifice of integrity <£> 
*in promoting the interests of individuals. And all tend to the ruin of man. * 

**#*»********»***********»*^***************^ 



LECTURE VII. 45 

LECTURE VIL 

ON THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE ANIMAL NATURE IS TO BE EXERCISED. 

I know, and am persuaded, that there is nothing unclean of itself. — Romans, 

xiv., 14. 

My dear children: 

We have stated that evil is a privative of good. Our conscious- 
ness of evil is the sense of some principle being absent, which is 
essential to our happiness or good. It is evident that this condition 
does not preclude the presence of some degree of good ; as we say 
we are cold, when there is certainly warmth in our bodies ; but so 
much heat has been abstracted from us as leaves us with less than 
our bodies require to make them comfortable. So our being hav- 
ing a higher and a lower nature, the moral and physical, may have 
all the wants of the lower or physical nature satisfied, and yet the 
moral nature left so deprived of its proper good, as to make our 
compound being miserable, from the cravings of its desires for a 
higher enjoyment. The senses are merely the nerves of certain 
organs, which serve as the medium through which we become 
acquainted with the existence and qualities of external things. 
They are doubtless intended primarily to add stimuli to the appe- 
tites ; and since, by the provision of Providence, the food of an 
infant is placed immediately within its reach, and the instinct of 
the mother leads her to gratify its wants, the senses, which in its 
helpless state might, if strong, be troublesome and injurious, are 
very feeble. 

That this is wisely directed, I would illustrate by a case which I 
have known, of an infant born with a disease of the nervous sys- 
tem. In a few days after its birth, it was observed to Taint when- 
ever the scent of a certain ointment was placed near it. The fact 
was perceived by accident, and was repeatedly proved by an en- 
lightened physician, who, at first, rejected the idea as contrary to 
nature. The senses are intended equally to subserve the purposes 
of the animal and moral nature. The sole difference is, that the 
animal man revels in the pleasures they afford, and to which they 
stimulate him, and satisfies himself to go no farther, until he loses 
his sensibility from satiety ; while the moral man enjoys the tem- 
perate use of the same blessings, and keeps alive his enjoyment by 
his temperance; making, at the same time, his animal enjoyments 
serve to add more zest to the better pleasures of his higher nature. 
The moral nature takes delight in all the gratifications of the ani- 
mal nature, so long as they are enjoyed in perfect subordination to 
its own higher pleasures. The moral nature reposes at night, with 
the animal nature, its exhausted faculties, and, rising refreshed, 



46 POPULAR LECTURES. 

blesses the all-wise Creator who grants a season of repose at re- 
gular intervals, to body and spirit. The moral nature contemplates, 
as God himself does, the grateful restorations which his benevo- 
lence spreads upon the domestic board from day to day, and re- 
turns its thanks to the Giver of all good, for daily bread, both of 
body and spirit. The moral nature makes an acceptable offering 
to God, of the exquisite sense which delights in the harmonious 
arrangements of melodious sounds, and the fine organs which pro- 
duce them. The moral nature disdains not to use the mimic ails 
of poetry and painting to sustain the majesty of its own dominion, 
by their splendid and affecting exhibitions of the tremendous mis- 
chiefs which attend uncontrolled indulgence of the passions. The 
moral nature concurs in the desire for the love, esteem and respect 
of our fellow creatures, so long as this principle is kept in subjec- 
tion, and amounts only to a modest pleasure in meeting the appro- 
bation of the wise and virtuous, and the sympathy of the amiable. 
It is when the appetites pass the bounds of utility that they become 
vicious ; when they transcend the limits prescribed by the moral na- 
ture, and subvert the balance of the faculties, forcing some into 
excessive action, and suppressing the just action of others. 

That you may contemplate ambition as the first in our list of the 
passions, which arises out of the appetite for connexion with our 
< <wn species, I will lead you to the consideration of fathers mur- 
< lured by their children, to promote their own elevation among 
their kind; to the daughters of Leah, or the daughter of Tarquin; 
to the mother of Charilaus, or the grandmother of Joash. I have 
prepared for you a table, exhibiting the origin of the passions. 
The senses are but inlets to perception, and equally so to those of 
pleasure or of pain, of moral or physical good or evil. If a disagree- 
able sight or sound is presented to the senses, they have no power 
to reject it, nor to choose those which are agreeable. The habits 
are merely inclinations produced by frequent repetition of the same 
thing. Money becomes in childhood associated with the pleasures 
it procures, and gradually, from the habit of accumulation, at first, 
perhaps, produced by the wish to procure greater pleasures, the 
association is removed from the pleasures of which money was the 
representative to the money itself, and man begins to love the mo- 
ney from habit, without any reason such as at first operated upon 
Mm. Thus the monster, a miser, is formed. So of lying, the child 
first lies to procure some pleasure or avoid some pain ; by degrees 
lying becomes a habit so imperious, that it seems to afford him 
gratification to practise it ; thus, the monster, a liar, is brought into 
existence. So of stealing, it commences in a desire for the thing 
stolen ; by frequent indulgence, at last, the heart becomes so per- 
verted, that man takes an unnatural delight in stealing, though he 
should lose every thing he values by indulging himself in his ac- 
quired propensity. Thus we see the senses minister to the appe- 



LECTURE VII. 



47 



tites, the habits confirm the appetites, but the appetites govern the 
natural man; and they are intended in a due degree to do so. 
He is a cynic who would deny the appetites and senses their just 
uses. God certainly created the odor and the flavor of flowers 
and fruits to gratify the senses and appetites. Who can doubt but 
that our Savior had contemplated with delight the lily of the field, 
when he commended it above Solomon, in all his glory ; and, by 
that little sentence, gave us a lesson to associate the beauties of 
nature, with the providence of God, since he himself does so. 
But our subject of investigation is the degree to which the appe- 
tites may be lawfully indulged ; and I would refer you, for a clear 
understanding of it, to the subjoined table, in which you will see 
illustrated the declaration of St. Paul, that " there is nothing in it- 
self unclean," but the immorality of every thing is in the abuse 
of it. 

It is evidently not the animal nature which sees the evil of fol- 
lowing its own impulses, and gratifying its own inclinations. The 
brute of fierce propensities dies fighting ; and man, as the influence 
of climate or other natural causes had developed one or another 
animal principle, would for ever have been distinguished as the fierce 
and warlike barbarian of the north, the enlightened and refined 
warrior of the temperate regions, or the fiery and effeminate war- 
rior of the tropics. All would have continued, war ! war ! war ! 
had not God sent a new thing upon earth, addressed to that moral 
nature which alone could receive it, when he subjected his " Holy 
One" to the blind rage of man's carnal nature, and allowed him to 
be made a show of, openly, in the wonderful scene of the cruci- 
fixion. 

This brought the empire of the prince of this world to a stand ; 
and no wonder that his subjects, who had just accomplished his so- 
vereign purposes, and crucified the Lord of glory, should be 
arrested by the still small voice of conscience, when the silence of 
that fearful calm which follows the devastations of the whirlwind, 
gave them full leisure to contemplate their work. They who had 
resisted the presence and the power of the Master, and had not 
hesitated to lay their hands upon him, and mock and scourge, and 
spit upon him, and crucify him, are like little children in the hands 
of his once despised followers ; and bear the reproof and the threat, 
and humble their pride, to sue for aid and counsel from those over 
whom they had just triumphed so signally. « They were pricked 
in their hearts," in their consciences, in their depraved hearts; 
they were moved by the Spirit which striveth with men, to con- 
vince them of sin. Oh ! blessed and ever glorious God, keep alive 
in every soul of man, that sensibility which thou didst not with, 
draw, even from the murderers of thy precious Son ; and, let us not 
fail to remember to what excess of sin and ruin we shall be car- 
ried, if we follow the blind impulses of the carnal nature, and re- 
fuse to listen to the dictates of conscience. 



48 POPULAR LECTURES. 

To return from a digression naturally induced by our subject, it 
seems not very difficult for a reflecting mind to lay down the prin- 
ciples by which men should be governed, in the gratification of 
those appetites and senses which together form what we call the 
animal nature. But the difficulty is always in the application; since 
inclination is naturally on the side of indulgence, and inclination is 
a most eloquent advocate, when self-will is the judge. God evi- 
dently, by their effects, gives a measure for their use. The plea- 
sure attached to their use is, as we have before stated, destroyed 
by an abuse of them ; but the great principle which should be con- 
sulted, in gratitude and a just regard for the higher purposes for 
which we were created, is the degree in which they can be made 
subservient to the improvement of our minds, and the elevation of 
our affections. We have laid it down, that the great principle of 
our lives should be to serve our Maker, by augmenting, to the ut- 
most of our powers, the perfection and happiness of his creatures ; 
since this part of his creation, the human soul, has been evidently 
assigned to us, by his Providence, as a sacred charge. It is left, by 
an unalterable decree, to the benevolent of the earth, to complete 
that which is indicated, but not effected, by nature. Man is im- 
provable ; his condition, both temporal and spiritual, is naturally far 
below his talents aim capabilities. To bring these out then, to 
teach men all those things which they should do, as it is the last 
command of the Savior, should be the ruling object of our exis- 
tence; and every selfish expenditure of time, thought, wealth, feel- 
ing, or influence, upon sensual, earthly propensities, is giving pearls 
to swine, it is feeding the beast. The measure of how far our ex- 
penditures are necessary is this : do we neglect the necessities of 
our fellow creatures, to gratify our lower desires ; do we let an un- 
fortunate being perish near us, unnoticed, while we spend the 
means which would procure them fire, and food, and comfortable 
clothing, upon some costly bauble — some expensive dress ! Or do 
we spend in some sumptuous feast what would educate an orphan 
boy, and save him perhaps from perdition ; in fine, are we selfish t 
Can we act as did Sir Philip Sydney, the pride of England's chi- 
valry : when wounded upon the field of battle, and in the act of 
putting to his parched lips a draught of water, he saw near him a 
dying soldier, whose eyes were fixed wistfully upon the drink he 
held in his hand. " Poor fellow ! thy need is greater than mine/' 
said the hero, as he gave him the refreshing draught. Do we so 
cultivate a generous sympathy, until it governs selfishness, the most 
brutal of all the principles of our animal nature ! 

1. What has been before stated? 2. What is our consciousness of evil ? 3. 
Does this preclude the presence of good ? 4. What is the presence of evil 
compared to ? 5. How does this resemble the moral condition ? 6. What are 
the senses ? 7. What are they intended for ? S. What is said of the senses of 
an infant ? 9. How is this illustrated ? 10. What is the sole difference be- 
tween the animal and moral use of the senses. 11. How Ions: does the 



LECTURE VIII. 



LECTURE VIII. 



49 



TEMPERANCE. 

Be temperate in all things.— Cob., ix., 25. 

My young friends : 

I have said that the extent to which the appetites should be in- 
dulged is determined by utility. They are to be indulged in sub- 
ordination to the moral nature, and by no means to transcend that 
limit. This measure of indulgence is called temperance. Tempe- 
rance, then, is that use of things which answers the good purposes 
for which they were intended by their Maker, who created the 
earth to supply enough for all his creatures to use temperately, but 
for none to abuse by intemperance. Intemperance, as the converse 
of temperance, is such an excessive indulgence in the good things 
of the earth, as to produce an effect contrary to the benevolent pur- 
poses of the Creator. Temperance and intemperance relate to 
every gift which God has bestowed for the happiness of our animal 
nature ; but the commonest and most obvious violations of the law 
of temperance are in eating and drinking. Food is made agreea- 
ble and inviting, that, when pleasingly or urgently employed in 
other things, we may be stimulated by inclination to supply our 
corporeal being with its necessary sustenance ; and the tendency 
to eat more than is healthful, which is confined to man, was intend- 
ed in him to afford an occasion for the virtuous exercise of self- 
restraint. In children the stimulating effects of agreeable food in- 
variably produce intemperance, if parental authority is not exer- 

moral nature delight in the enjoyments of the senses? 12. In what in- 
stances is this observed ? 13. When do the appetites become vicious ? 14. 
What is ambition ? 15. In what instances is this illustrated ? 16. What is the 
table here inserted to show ? 17. Can the senses choose the objects they pre- 
sent to us ? 18. How is a miser formed ? 19. How a liar? 20. How a thief? 
21. How are habits formed ? 22. Should we deny the senses their just use ? 
23. How should we oppose God by doing so ? 24. What do we see illustrated 
in our table of human nature which is asserted by St. Paul ? 25. Is it the ani- 
mal nature which sees the evil of following its impulses? 26. What would 
have been the effect if God had permitted the animal nature to retain its ascen- 
dency ? 27. What brought the empire of the animal nature to a stand ? 28. 
How did it act? 29. How did the conviction show itself ? 30. What reflec- 
tion should this give rise to ? 31. Is it very difficult to lay down the principles 
of self-government? 32. When is the only difficulty ? 33. What is the great 
principle which we should always be governed by ? 34. What has been as- 
signed to us by God as a sacred charge? 35. What is man naturally? 36. 
What duty is assigned us by the Scriptures ? 37. What is giving pearls to 
swine ? 38. What is the measure of our selfish gratifications ? 39. How do we 
test whether we are selfish or not? 40. What is the anecdote of Sir Philip 
Sydney? 41. Does our sympathy with others govern our selfishness? 42. 
What is the most brutal principle in man ? 

5 



50 POPULAR LECTURES. 

cised to curb the inclinations. In after life, personal observation 
enables us to perceive when the wants of nature are satisfied ; and 
this is the point at which every rational creature should stop. Hun- 
ger is the stimulated state of the appetite ; but one of those pithy 
and veracious old sentences, which have grown into adages from 
a long experience of their wisdom, informs us that " the appetite 
grows with eating." Unnaturally stimulated, then, at the com- 
mencement of excess the stomach experiences an uneasy sensa- 
tion of fulness, which, indeed, is the natural warning to abstain ; 
but, if farther excited, its craving is renewed, and goes on from 
one excess to another. Having passed the limit of temperance, 
the appetite has no longer a boundaiy to check its impulses, and 
stays not until the punishment of inevitable satiety arrests its vi- 
cious and degraded course. To eat more, from a love of eating, 
than the stomach receives without an uneasy pressure, is intempe- 
rance, although the food be of the simplest kind ; and, as this must 
depend upon the age, health, and habits of exercise, animal spirits, 
&c, no weight or measure can be prescribed ; but experience soon 
teaches us, and rational beings should ever habituate themselves to 
consider their own peculiar circumstances, and apply, as good 
sense directs, those general laws which, intended for universal use, 
are necessarily of infinitely variable application. Are we in ill 
health 1 The quality and quantity of our food should be as judi- 
ciously regulated as our medicines. Sometimes, to abate the dis- 
eased action of the system, total abstinence is necessary; some- 
times, barely to support nature while she struggles with disease, 
light, nutritious and cooling diet is essential ; sometimes, when ex- 
hausted nature sinks under the effects of disease, and loathes the 
tonics of the apothecary, stimulating nourishment is required in its 
most concentrated state ; sometimes, when the nervous system is 
much depressed by mental or corporeal derangement, a disgust to 
food is produced, which becomes habitual, and can be overcome 
only by returning as quickly as possible, without consulting the in- 
clination, to the ordinary habits of the appetite. Are we in health ? 
It is certainly wise, in every respect, to consider both the properties 
and the quantity of our food, with regard to our peculiar constitu- 
tion ; and the rule that should be followed is, to observe whether 
our ordinary food leaves us the perfect and unembarrassed use of 
our minds, the lightness and vivacity of our animal spirits, and the 
unimpaired activity of our corporeal energies. If not, we should, 
by careful observation, ascertain whether the inconvenience we 
sustain arises from the quality or quantity of our food, or from 
both. Most young persons (I speak from extensive observation) 
injure their constitutions, and lay the foundation of diseases, which 
circumscribe their pleasures, increase their pains and troubles, 
lessen their usefulness and their personal charms, through life, 
and, finally, shorten the period of their existence, by the quantity of 



LECTURE VIII. 51 

food which they crave and eat in childhood. Nothing, surely, in 
the way of aliment, can be more destructive to the tender consti- 
tution of a growing person, than the sweet cakes and confectionary 
with which they and their parents conspire against the inestimable 
enjoyments of health. Saccharine matter passes rapidly through 
processes of vinous and acidulous fermentation, which excite and 
subsequently relax the stomach, and ultimately leave it in a condi- 
tion similar to that of a man depressed by the effects of intempe- 
rate drinking ; while the mind is debased by the selfish habit of 
preferring our own luxuries to the extreme necessities of the poor. 
The rich cake which impairs your digestion, and stupifies your 
mind, would have given wholesome food to a large family ; or, still 
better, have gone far in sending a little child to school, or in cloth- 
ing a savage African, and bringing him within the pale of civiliza- 
tion and Christianity. Formerly, Circe was described as holding 
her court in caves and secret places, and her orgies were all car- 
ried on in darkest night ; but now, the syren stands at the gay 
portal of a confectioner's magazine, in every square of our cities, 
and displays her poisonous baits to allure the young in broad day- 
light. Would that I could strip her of her attractive show, and 
display the hidden stores of disease and wretchedness, which instil 
a slow corroding venom into the tainted blood of her victims. 

Intemperance, in single acts of great excess, shows, like the prin- 
ciple of gravitation, in large bodies. By the force of accumulated 
energy it becomes conspicuous. Lesser acts of intemperance may 
be compared to the gravitation of each particle of matter separate 
from the mass. Alone, it is not observable, and consequently you 
can scarcely believe that it exists; and yet there is nothing in the 
whole that is not contained in each of its parts. As the bringing 
together many insignificant particles of matter, makes the gravita- 
tion conspicuous, so many unnoticed acts of slight intemperance 
produce, by combination, the destruction of the stongest constitu- 
tion ; and, as their combined force proves their separate power, we 
may know, to a certainty, that even the slightest act of excess 
takes off a proportionate measure from our life, as well as from the 
enjoyment of existence. 

As a moralist, I must now again call your attention to the folly 
and ingratitude of thus abusing the most evident mercies of Pro- 
vidence. God, who created the food for the appetite, and the 
appetite for the food, regarded our enjoyment, and designed the 
sustenance of our bodies to contribute to the gratification of 
our senses. But since only a certain quantity of food could 
be converted into nourishment, it is most certain that that quan- 
tity is all which he intended us to use; and that to take more 
than that is an ungrateful abuse of his mercies, which he punishes 
by making disease the consequence. Intemperance in eating is a 
practice which generally acts so slowly, that the inconsiderate sel- 



52 POPULAR LECTURES. 

dom perceive it ; but, if you wish to know more, go to some book 
which treats of the causes of disease, and you will there find the 
most loathsome and incurable maladies ascribed to this, and to no 
other cause ; while experience affords daily examples of persons 
who deprive themselves of the full use of their faculties, by eating 
more than is perfectly consistent with a high state of mental acti- 
vity. The measure of indulgence for this appetite is well expess- 
ed in the saying: "we should eat to live, rather than live to eat." 
Life is to be sustained by food, and we should eat so much, and 
such food, as will conduce to health, long life, and the enjoyment of 
our existence. Never should we eat such food, or so much, as will 
injure health, and consequently waste life, and rob us of that easy, 
comfortable, and free enjoyment of the faculties of body and mind, 
which is in itself happiness, and the medium of every form of 
moral and intellectual enjoyment. As a happy illustration of this 
important subject, I have appended the case of the celebrated 
Venetian nobleman, Cornaro, related by himself, in a letter written 
at the age of ninety-two, showing how youth may be converted 
into old age by intemperance, and old age into youth by tem- 
perance. 

Addison says of Cornaro : " Of the truth of his statements we 
have no reason to doubt ; for the Venetian ambassador, a gentle- 
man of the highest honor, assured me that he personally knew the 
facts related by Cornaro to be true." 

Of intemperance in drinking the many horrible effects are too 
obvious to need our notice. It produces every crime and every 
misery which deforms society. It destroys even natural affection, 
stimulating men to murder their wives, their mothers, and their 
children, of which our daily papers are the disgusting, horrid re- 
cords. It generally ends in madness and death. If you have not 
known this, visit a hospital for the insane, and you will find every 
type of insanity under the head of mania-a-potu. It degrades man 
below the brutes ; for their cruel and low propensities are natural 
and involuntary, while the state of brutality of the drunkard is an 
unnatural and a voluntary degradation of that being whose capa- 
cities might have been improved to an angelic nature. One of the 
most awful views of intemperance in eating and drinking is in the 
incapacity it produces in its victims to resist its power. Often is 
the deplorable scene exhibited of habitually intemperate persons 
lamenting their own disgrace, confessing their own sin, foreseeing 
their own punishment, and yet so morally and physically paralyzed, 
as to be incapable of breaking the mysterious shackles by which 
they are held in a voluntary bondage. 

Dr. Johnson's prayers against a propensity to excess in eating 
are a melancholy evidence of this condition ; and I this day saw 
an account, in a New York paper, of a young girl of fourteen 
being brought in a state of intoxication before a magistrate. She 



LECTURE VIII. 53 

begged to be sent to the house of correction, stating that she had 
been there before for the same offence, and that she would rather 
be confined than left to herself, as she could not restrain her dread- 
ful propensity. Oh, my beloved young friends ! how happy are 
you to have been taught to feel the horror you now experience at 
such a degradation of your species ! Pity, then, the misery of vice, 
and exert every energy of your nature to improve the moral condi- 
tion of humanity in others, as well as in yourselves. 

1. What is temperance ? 2. What is intemperance ? 3. To what do tem- 
perance and intemperance relate? 4. Why is food made inviting? 5. Why 
have we inclination to eat more than is healthful ? 6. What effect has agree- 
able food upon children ? 7. What means have we of ruling our appetite ? 8. 
What is hunger? 9. What natural warning have we that we have eaten 
enough? 10. What effect follows if we disregard the warning? 11. Can we 
be intemperate with simple food ? 12. What, then, constitutes temperance ? 
13. If we are in ill health what should be our rule ? 14. If in health ? 15. 
What should be the rule ? 16. How do most young persons injure their health ? 
17. Why are sweet things injurious ? 18. What effect is produced upon the 
mind ? 19. Who was Circe, and how are her habits changed ? 20. To what 
may intemperance be compared in acts of great excess ? 21. To what in acts 
of lesser excess ? 22. How do we know that the slightest excess takes off from 
our life as certainly as the greatest ? 23. What is an abuse of God's mercies ? 
24. Why is intemperance in eating not so much thought of as in drinking ? 25. 
Where are we taught its effects ? 26. What do we see every day ? 27. What 
old adage expresses the just rule ? 28. What is said of Cornaro ? 29. What is 
said of intemperance in drinking? 30. What are its effects ? 31. In what 
does it generally end ? 32. Where do we see this? 33. Why does it degrade 
man below the brutes ? 34. What is one of the most awful views of intempe- 
rance ? 35. What is said of Dr. Johnson's prayers ? 36. What happened in 
New York lately ? 37. What effect should these considerations have upon 
those who have been virtuously educated ? 



54 POPULAR LECTURES. 

LECTURE IX. 

THE SENSES. 

" He hath set his eye upon our hearts, that we might see the glory of his works." 

My DEAR CHILDREN ! 

Man, as a created being, (if we would analyze his nature,) must 
be considered as carefully with regard to his natural powers of 
body as of mind. In this view T there is nothing so remarkable as 
the senses by which he is connected with an external world. 
These are equally subservient to the purposes of the moral and 
animal nature. A fine, subtilized matter, secreted in the head from 
the blood, is thence conveyed through its proper channels to the 
whole body, and pervades every minute portion of the human frame, 
so that you cannot penetrate with a cambric needle any point where 
you will not encounter the fine network which transmits sensation 
from the remotest limbs to the brain. This substance is called ce- 
rebral matter. The great mass of it in the head is the brain, 
which, because it is supposed to be the seat of sensation, is called 
the sensorium. The chord which issues from the brain in the back 
of the neck, and passes down through the vertebral column or back 
bone, forming the spinal marrow, is merely a prolongation of the 
brain. This again passes out at regular intervals, through small 
punctures in the backbone, and the fine white threads which spread 
over the body, and produce sensibility, are called the nerves. These 
communicate the sense of touch ; and where their ordinary action is 
interrupted or impaired, there is a corresponding dulness in the 
sense, which is called numbness. Where they are destroyed, there 
is no sensibility, and the sense of touch is wanting. With this de- 
scription of the sense of touch or feeling, which, you know, is not, 
like the other senses, confined to one peculiar part, but is every 
where present, to inform us of the actual contact of external ob- 
jects with our body, and of their various degrees of solidity or 
other qualities by which we may be benefited or injured, acting 
as well in the dark as the light, and wonderfully endowed with the 
power to select among them according to their properties, we will 
proceed to the other senses, which have nothing different from this 
sense, except that the nerves are spread over certain little material 
organs of sense, called the eyes, the ear, the tongue, and the nose. 
all located under the same beautiful arch which covers the brain 
itself. Since our object is always to lead the mind up to God, and 
to promote gratitude and devotion to him, we will now pause and 
survey the wonderful palace, with its vaulted roof, where the mind 
sits supreme, and listens to the wonders reported by his alert and 
skilful ministers, the senses. What is there that the human mind 



LECTURE IX. 55 

cannot compass by their aid 1 No curious object of rare or beau- 
tiful in the mineral, vegetable or animal kingdom, from the ele- 
phant to -the mite, can escape the scrutiny of the naturalist. Does 
he not see another world existing around us 1 The most transpa- 
rent atmosphere, the crystal fountain, the petals of a little flower, 
are they not to him redolent of life in all its exquisite variety of 
animated being] How he hangs over the delicate mimosa, and 
wonders to see it shrink from his gentle touch, as if modesty in- 
formed it. From the palms and banyans of the tropics, to the firs 
and mosses of the arctic regions, he cons, and compares, and de- 
scribes, and names them all. All — from the adamantine centre 
round which our earth concentrates, to the orient pearl brought 
from the ocean depths, to the gold and gems from the mountain 
heights — all fill his wondering soul with rapturous praise. But 
chiefly the infinite beauty of insects, shell-fish, flowers, and, above 
all, birds, excite his soul to indescribable emotions of delight. If 
God had given me but sight, and offered me no other object of vi- 
sion but the little ruby-breasted humming-bird, hanging, as I have 
often seen him, over the pensile flowers of the graceful scarlet 
fuchsia, lifting them one by one to insert his long bill in quest of 
his delicate food, I could not contemplate this single evidence of the 
wisdom, power and goodness of the Deity, without being raised, 
refined and purified. But the little gem of animated nature glances 
athwart my view, like the colored spectrum of the solar beams 
cast by the moving prism ; and I have but time to realize that he 
is a living creature, with flesh, and bones, and skin, a heart and 
lungs, a beautiful arched head with senses like my own — when 
borne on his fine, light, flexible wings to a far height above the 
earth to which I cling, his keen eye penetrates the distance to 
where fresh flowers are blooming, and there, as odorous vapors 
circle round his head, he darts from cup to cup, and sips the honeyed 
stores, and hastens on to seek new pleasures. Would you know 
how these delightful images are communicated to the mind. Exa- 
mine, then, the eye. First, see how the precious instrument of vi- 
sion is folded to rest at night ; even the sun himself withdraws his 
light for a season, that the wearied sight of men, and beasts, and 
birds may rest, and be refreshed. Folded in its fringed curtains, it 
lies unconscious of the world around, until stimulated by the re- 
turning light, the windows are once more opened, and day pours 
in, bringing with it all that the endless variety of symmetrical 
forms and harmonious colors of nature can offer to enchant the 
mind. But how is all the immense space before us, the great con- 
cave of the heavens, with all its glories, and the wide-spreading earth, 
with oceans, rivers, mountains, valleys, plains and cities, brought 
distinctly within the compass of the visual orb? By simple laws, 
my dear children, with which it belongs to another department of 
your education to make you acquainted. I will only say here, that 



56 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



certain lenses receive the rays of light which come from every 
point of all the various objects of sight before you, and refraction 
concentrates them, so as to bring them to a focus on the retina, 
which is the interior surface of a dark chamber, prepared to ex- 
clude all light, except that which enters through the lenses to which 
is committed the office of arranging the objects of vision in their 
perfect order. Thus far we have an apparatus for sight; The ca- 
mera obscura in our library is made in imitation of it, to receive 
and reflect the images of external objects ; but here we must stop 
in our investigation of the theory of vision. How these pictures 
ort the retina are conveyed to the mind, and preserved in the me- 
mory, we know not. The impressions made by them on the mind 
have been called ideas ; but, lately, the hypothesis to which this 
term belongs has been rejected. For myself, I have much reve- 
rence for it ; and I do believe that the images formed on the retina 
may, by a similar process, be again reflected and contracted to 
smaller and smaller spectra, until reduced, like the elementary par- 
ticles of matter, to such dimensions that there may be whole galle- 
ries of painting in the palace of memory, landscapes, buildings, 
portraits, historical pictures ; whatever the mind's eye hath seen 
worth treasuring up. And from such a process we might find the 
solution of the enigma of objects being inverted on the retina, and 
yet never so seen. But you have much to study upon the subject 
of the senses. The ear is quite as curious as the eye, being con- 
structed to communicate sounds ; the interior structure resembling 
musical instruments, and the whole being covered with a thin 
membrane, through which the vibrations of the atmosphere, pro- 
duced by different sounds, come in contact with the nerves of the 
ear, and convey a corresponding impression to the mind. Imme- 
diately connected with, and dependent upon the sense of hearing, 
is the power of speech, the noblest faculty of man. In vain would 
the flexible tubes of the throat have been attached to the elastic 
chest of the lungs ; " the ready, swift and tuneful tongue" would 
have been mute for ever, had the ear not received and aided the 
mind in the arrangement of articulate sounds into language. 
Smelling and taste are conveyed in the same way, by the nerves 
of their peculiar organs. But the wonderful office of the senses is 
in conveying abstract thought from one mind to another — even 
from one generation to another : so that, by a glance of the eye, or 
an inclination of the ear, we are able to hold high converse with 
the ancient world, to know the thoughts of our first parents, and 
enter into their feelings ; to pity the exiles from Eden ; to admire 
the wisdom of Moses, or the prophetic inspiration of Elijah, or 
Isaiah ; time, space, the very confusion of tongues, all yield to the 
magic power of the senses ; but one who does not use the senses 
as the media through which knowledge is conveyed to the mind, 
but derives his highest enjoyments from the mere impression of ex- 



LECTURE IX. 57 

ternal things upon the senses themselves, is unworthy the posses- 
sion of such blessings. The gratification of the eye, in the objects 
of beauty with which he surrounds himself; the gratification of 
the ear, in the excessive cultivation of music ; the gratification of 
the taste, in Epicurean viands; the gratification of smelling, in 
luxurious' and costly perfumes ; and of touch, in the velvets, satins, 
fine furs, &c. with which he surrounds his body, makes man a 
sensualist. These indulgences are generally palliated, by applying 
to them the term taste ; but a refined taste implies intellectual en- 
joyment, derived through the senses, rather than from them. This 
taste is a faculty of the mind, and exercises itself in moral and in- 
tellectual operations upon subjects made known to it, through the 
agency of the senses. Taste, for instance, is delighted with the ab- 
stract quality of fitness, or the suitability of things for the purposes 
for which they were created ; and while the eye beholds the light in 
the heavenly bodies, and feels the beauty of their different glories, 
taste follows philosophy into her deepest cells; when shut in from the 
visible heavens, she traces their distances and velocities, and dwells 
upon the wisdom, goodness and power which measured their orbits, 
balanced their respective weights, gave them forms to correspond 
with their distances, and satellites and circles of luminous air, to sup- 
ply their deficiency of light from solar beams. A sensualist is in the 
lowest grade of humanity. He may improve the discriminating 
power of all the senses, but he is still merely a refined brute ; while 
the man of pure good taste rests not in their delight, but receives 
from the pleasure they afford a mental impetus, which carries him 
far, far above the earth; even where Thomson soared, when he 
caught the eternal song of saints around the throne, and poured 
forth his hymn of praise, 

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good !" 

The senses are, in a high degree, improvable, yet very liable to 
injury, and even destruction. Their perfection depends upon two 
causes : the general health of the body, and, more especially, of the 
nervous system ; and upon the care with which they are exercised 
and their operations attended to. It has been observed, that per- 
sons deprived by accident of one of the senses, learn to use the 
others as those who possess them all can not do. You have read, 
perhaps, of the Duke of Argyle's blind tailor, who matched the 
stripes of the Campbell plaid, without ever missing a line ; and I 
myself have known a blind basket-maker, who colored his straws 
and wove them into his baskets, selecting the colors by touch as 
he proceeded. Sailors learn to distinguish objects at sea, where 
an unpractised sight cannot perceive them. Hearing, when attended 
to, becomes a much more perfect sense : a musician distinguishes 
sounds with more accuracy than one who is not a musician. 
Some men lead a full band, and discriminate so as to perceive a 



58 POPULAR LECTURES. 

wrong note in any instrument in the band. So of the other 
senses. From these facts you perceive that upon the careful exer- 
cise of each sense we depend for its excellency ; but, on the other 
hand, the overstrained action of the organ impairs or entirely de- 
stroys it. Stimulate the nervous system by exciting the passions, 
and you may produce instant destruction of the delicate nerves of 
the senses. We all know the degree to which they are impaired 
by disease, especially by a disease falling upon the nervous system. 
We should, therefore, find it another and very powerful incentive 
to preserve our health, that without it we cannot hope to enjoy 
the benefit of our senses in their complete vigor. Especially we 
should keep in mind the importance of temperance, both moral and 
physical ! The nervous system is immediately connected with the 
stomach ; and excess in eating and drinking is often instantly pu- 
nished by the destruction of the brain, and sudden death by apo- 
plexy, or by a paralysis of half the frame, called the dead palsy. 
In this terrible malady, one half the body loses the sense of feeling, 
and the muscles, no longer stimulated by the nerves, cease to act. 
I have known a woman for sixteen years in this condition, bound 
in a living death to her chair, by the effect of drink. I have 
known another instance of palsy, in a cook, produced instantly, by 
passing suddenly from the heated ah' of a kitchen to the cold of an 
ice-house. In this case, half the human frame was bound, with all 
its living energies, for many years to a corpse, and dragged about 
with it — a living death. Often the sight or the healing perish du- 
ring a temporary local inflammation, from cold or sickness ; and 
then the soul being shut out from the sweet intercourse of social 
life, cruel and gloomy thoughts take possession of it, although ori- 
ginally framed for the highest relish of society. Accidents, more to 
be dreaded often than death, are thus frequently caused by appa- 
rently slight causes. How weak, then, and how swful, to neglect 
the care, and prudence, and self-restraint, which God has rendered 
essential for the preservation of the most precious blessings he has 
conferred on man. 

1. What is most remarkable in the physical constitution of man? 2. For 
what purposes are the senses given ? 3." What causes sensation, and how is 
it transmitted to the brain? 4. What is the brain? 5. What the sensorium ? 
6. What is the spinal marrow ? 7. What are the nerves ? S. What is numb- 
ness ? 9. What if the nerves are destroyed ? 10. What is the use of the 
sense of feeling? 11. What difference is'fhere between feeling and the other 
senses? 12. What may be calied the palace of the mind? 13. What are some 
of the sources of delight opened to the naturalist b}" the senses ? 14. What is 
there wonderful in the sight? 15. How is every object brought at once within 
the compass of our vision ? 16. What instrument is made in imitation of the 
eye ? 17. What are the impressions made by visible objects on the mind 
called ? IS. How might they possibly be formed ? 19. What other organs of 
sense are as curious as the eye? 20." What faculty, which may be called the 
noblest possessed by man, is dependent upon the sense of hearing? 21. What 
would have been in vain without hearing ? 22. What is the most wonderful 



LECTURE X. 59 

LECTURE X. 

INTELLECTUAL POWERS. 

The Lord by wisdom has founded the earth, by understanding hath he esta- 
blished the heavens. — Prov., iii., 19. 

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS : 

Preparatory to the examination of the duties of man, we have 
still one more division of his compound nature to attend to — his in- 
tellect. As our object is a definite one — the improvement of the 
moral nature, by settling the principles of ethics — we shall venture 
no farther upon metaphysics, than to determine those points which 
are essential to moral government. 

Intellect, or mind, is that principle of our nature by which we 
perceive and think, remember, reflect, and invent. 

My eye receives a physical impression from an external object : 
this is material. It is as visible (the image in my eye) to another, 
as it is perceptible to my own mind. The impression on the eye is 
called a sensation ; the notice the mind takes of the image is called 
a perception. If the material eye is in order, and the light admit- 
ted, the image must be there, but not necessarily a perception of 
it by the mind ; for a somnambulist may have his eyes wide open, 
and external objects reflected from them, and know it not ; or a 
man thinking, may see, and yet not perceive visible objects. But 
the mind, not the eye, perceives and examines, takes notice of one 
part, then another, of the image; compares one thing with another, 
and is convinced of the actual presence of the most distant and in- 
tangible architype, by the presence of the visible image. The 
opinion, that spirit cannot be cognisant of material things, seems to 
rest upon unauthorized assumption ; else how does God, who is a 
Spirit, see his own works which are material 1 Again, why should 
there be an apparatus placed in the eye to produce a material pic- 
ture there, if the mind could not perceive it, or could see the object 
without the eye 1 I look at you and see you ; you see hoiv I see 

office of the senses ? 23. What may be said of one who does not use his 
senses as a medium for knowledge, but rests in the gratifications of the senses ? 
23. What makes a sensualist ? 24. What is taste ? 25. What does taste de- 
light in? 26. What rank does a sensualist hold ? 27. What impetus does the 
mind of the man of taste receive from objects of taste ? 28. Are the senses 
subject to injury and improvement ? 29. What does their perfection depend 
upon? 30. What is said of blind tailor and basket-maker? 31. What of 
sailors and musicians ? 32. What effect is produced by overstraining the 
nerves ? 33. How does disease affect the senses ? 34. What should this be an 
incentive to ? 35. How is intemperance often punished ? 36. What is a dead 
palsy, and how produced ? 37. What effect does the los^ of the senses gene- 
rally produce ? 38. What must be said of those who neglect or disregard their 
health ? 



60 POPULAR LECTURES. 

you, for you see the same image of yourself in my eye, which you 
have often seen in a mirror. Your image in my eye is as much a 
material thing, as a picture of you in oils would be. What is the 
use of it, if the mind cannot see iU The distinct perception of it 
is the idea. If I am not very attentive in my examination of the 
visible image, my mind does not receive a perfect impression, and 
the idea is imperfect, although the visible image was complete in 
every part. Now what the process is, by which a transcript of the 
visible image is transferred to the mind, must always be merely a 
matter for conjecture. Every faculty of mind is separable and de- 
structible; man may exist without each, and every faculty, from 
simple perception to the highest powers of abstract thought; bodily 
disease sometimes suspends, sometimes destroys them also. Where 
simple perception is not affected, memory and the powers of com- 
bination often are temporarily or permanently destroyed. But, as 
we cannot attribute thought or reflection to matter, we must consi- 
der man as having spirit superadded by the Deity, to a finely orga- 
nized body ; and this combination is what we mean by man. 
Either, without the other, is not man. The spirit is scripturally 
called the " life of the soul," being derived from God himself; and 
man cannot be called man, without those parts essential to his ex- 
istence, (i. e.,) without those powers of body, as well as the posses- 
sion of that spirit, which unite to compose that peculiar being whom 
we denominate man. 

Heretofore we have confined ourselves to those principles of his 
being which belong equally to other animals — the appetites and 
senses. Some of the lower animals have these, it is true, in a very 
imperfect state ; although we cannot assert that they are entirely 
destitute of them. An oyster, for instance, feeds, and is found in 
company, and yet, so very obscure are the organs of its senses, 
and so very limited its means of locomotion and self-defence, that, 
according to the usually wise and benevolent distributions of Pro- 
vidence, we can hardly suppose it to be sensible to sounds or visi- 
ble objects. If it were, how agonizing would be its condition, ex- 
posed to continual danger, and unfitted with the means of escape 
or defence. In the organizations of created beings, we are conti- 
nually led to examine the reverse of such a condition. We find 
vegetables (giving no evidence of sensation) rooted in the ground, 
where the spade or the axe assail them unresisted ; while timid ani- 
mals are gifted with superior fleetness, fierce ones with weapons of 
defence. The birds cradle their defenceless young on the outer- 
most branches of the lofty trees ; and even the little spider rolls itself 
up, and feigns death, to deceive its enemy; while, to effect pur- 
poses connected with their temporal welfare, some animals evince 
a species or degree of intelligence, called instinct, superior, in the 
certainty of its operations, to the reason of man. The intellectual 
faculties, or mental powers, are given, it seems, to all animals, just 






LECTURE X. 61 

in proportion as the physical nature is made perfect enough to af- 
ford them exercise for these powers. The oyster, for instance, 
could not be expected to expand its intellect, because its physical 
conformation precludes the possibility of its ever exercising any 
higher intellect ; while man is quickened to much ingenuity by the 
construction of his members being so well suited to the perform- 
ance of various offices. 

" Why has not man a microscopic eye ? 
For this plain reason : man is not zfly" 

Says Pope. Some philanthropists have taken up the benevolent 
persuasion, that all animals have immortal souls, because it seems 
so evident that they have intellect suited to their temporal wants. 
But as they have not the privilege, "by patience in well-doing, to 
seek for glory, honor and immortality," we cannot see why, after 
their sensible being is dissolved by death, they should be created 
again with consciousness of identity, which seems to be the princi- 
ple upon which Christ raises the dead bodies of men, after they 
have fallen into dissolution in the grave. Intellect, as well as the 
senses and appetites, appears to be originally bestowed upon differ- 
ent grades of animals in different degrees, according to the wants 
of their nature ; and, farther, many faculties, which would be in- 
convenient or mischievous in one condition of being, will continue 
latent, and never be developed, unless a change of condition calls 
for their exercise. This is peculiarly the case with man, whose ani- 
mal, intellectual and moral relations are so widely diversified, that, 
were there not a capacity in the faculties to accommodate them- 
selves to their condition, (as the eye does to the light,) by con- 
traction and expansion, the means provided for the happiness of 
man would often become the source of most exquisite misery ; the 
" mute, inglorious Milton, 7 ' born to the humble destiny of the rude 
and ignorant boor, would perish in the cruel and ineffectual strug- 
gles of his fine sensibilities against unpropitious fate, while the 
children of the sordid and vulgar, cast by fortune into a higher 
sphere of feeling and duty, would show the indelible impress of na- 
ture, and stand, like the cold hard rock, untouched by the genial 
influence of the sunshine of prosperity. But experience proves the 
contrary, that the intellect in man, as in all other animals, is an ex- 
pansible principle, accommodating itself to external things, and to 
present necessities. The similarity between man and other ani- 
mals, in this respect, is finely illustrated by the manner in which 
brute animals have been taught by necessity to perform offices to- 
tally foreign to their natural habits. As the little Canary bird, 
which was exhibited some years since in our cities, drawing its 
water, when thirsty, with a little windlass from a well beneath its 
cage, and hauling a little wagon of seed (whenever it would eat) 
up an inclined plane outside of the cage ; and, forced by necessity 

6 



62 POPULAR LECTURES. 

to hold with its feet the cord by which its food and drink were sus- 
pended, while it fed or drank. I myself have seen a hog spelling 
all the most difficult words a stranger could propose to it, by obey- 
ing signs (to us imperceptible) from its master. The dogs of St. 
Bernard's perform offices, at the bidding of their masters, incom- 
prehensible upon the principle of instinct, since they have no con- 
nexion with their own natural wants. The dog, for instance, sal- 
lies out on a cold night from the hospice, on the summit of the 
ever-frozen mountain, traverses the snow-covered roads in search 
of perishing travellers ; and should he find one too far overcome by 
cold to follow him, or heed his attempts to rouse him, he takes 
from his own neck the bottle of brandy which the kind monks 
have hung there, and puts the drink to his lips ; pulls the blanket 
from his back, which is attached there for the purpose, covers the 
poor stranger, and barks loud to rouse him. If all this fails, he 
scours away to the hospice. By ringing the bell, and a peculiar 
bark, he brings out the good monks in sufficient force ; and away 
he flies, leading them to the object of his generous sympathy. 
Thus one dog saved forty human lives ; and if ever any of us 
should visit Berne, I think we will not fail to ask for his sacred re- 
mains, which have been embalmed and deposited there in the mu- 
seum. One of these noble dogs came home one night with a little 
boy, sleeping from cold, on his back. How the poor child was 
placed there, or retained his position, clasping the dog around the 
neck, could not be discovered ; but probably a dying mother placed 
him there, and the warmth of the dog enabled him to retain his 
position. History has recorded of an elephant, that being much 
provoked by its keeper, it unguardedly gave him a blow, which 
killed him instantly. The wife of the man, in a passion of grief, 
dashed her son, a little boy, down before him, exclaiming, " You 
have killed his father, kill him too ; since he has no one to support 
or to take care of him." The intelligent animal, as if he under- 
stood her, gently raised the child with his proboscis, placed him in 
the seat of the driver upon his neck, and ever after obeyed him 
most implicitly, and would obey no one else ; so that the little boy 
had an ample provision, in his father's place, of keeper to the ele- 
phant. These expansions of intellect lead us then to see that man 
has reason to be infinitely grateful to that God who, having esta- 
blished a principle of constant change and uncertainty in his rela- 
tions and condition of being, has rendered it necessary that his 
intellect should be infinitely enlarged. By his superior necessities, 
and the physical structure of his body, bestowed to aid him in their 
supply, some of his highest endowments are obtained. He is un- 
clothed by nature, consequently exposed to the vicissitudes of cli- 
mate, and cannot but learn to perceive the approach of disease and 
death, occasioned by exposure to natural causes, and their con- 
nexion with his own voluntary actions. This not only leads him to 



LECTURE X. 



63 



invent the various arts of life, but also stimulates him to an intense 
degree of reflection on the nature of life and death, and leads to a 
speculation upon future existence. He perceives that, for their 
temporal purposes, many animals have the advantage of him. He 
has to rob the birds and the beasts for his protection against cold, 
while they are naturally protected ; he has to forge arms of defence 
against the wild beasts ; and, after all his labor and ingenuity, the 
tiger springs upon him unawares, or the serpent stings him in the 
grass, or the little insect drives his poisoned barb into some vital 
part, and he dies — before the most despised of his natural enemies. 
But he sees that speech, writing, abstract science enable one gene- 
ration to communicate with and instruct another. How natural 
then becomes the idea of existence after death, by contemplating 
the expansibility of his mind, and the indestructibility of his mental 
labor ; by seeing that the wisdom and virtue of the dead have not 
disappeared with them, but are still active among the living. How 
natural then to think of the mind itself never dying ! 

But our present subject of consideration is the nature of the 
intellect and its faculties. Intellect or mind is that in a being which 
thinks. Here we must stop ; for we know no more. We cannot 
for an instant suppose it to be material ; but must be contented to 
know it by its operations. In observing these, we discover that it 
has certain faculties which are separable : that they may be lost se- 
parately, or that some may never have existed, where others are 
very perfect. A young man in England, some years ago, was said 
to have such a memory, that after once reading the London Morn- 
ing Post, he would repeat every word, advertisements and all, in 
regular succession, without the slightest failure ; but he had no fa- 
culty of reflection, and, stored with facts, he was incapable of mak- 
ing any use of his knowledge. The intellectual faculties of the 
mind are perception, attention, memory, reflection and imagination. 
Perception means the notice the mind takes of the subjects pre- 
sented to it by the senses. It is also the name of that peculiar fa- 
culty or quality of the mind by which it is enabled to perceive 
impressions made upon the senses. The faculty of perception, or 
power of perceiving, is then as different from the state of percep- 
tion, as the sense of smelling is from the sensation of smelling pro- 
duced by odors upon the sense. We perceive that there are per- 
sons and other visible objects before us. We perceive that it is 
cold or warm. We perceive that food tastes agreeably or disa- 
greeably — flowers smell sweet or not. Sounds are articulate or 
not. Thus the senses all pour their stores into the mind through 
perception. But there are two things necessary to this perception, 
or state of perceiving. The outward thing perceived, with its inhe- 
rent and apparent qualities which distinguish it from other things, 
and the peculiar and inherent property of the individual mind of 
perceiving, which property, possessed in different degrees by differ- 



64 POPULAR LECTURES. 

ent minds, may be called the power of mental vision, or the ability 
of the mind to see with the understanding what the body sees with 
the eye. Perception is nearly an involuntary capacity, or mental 
power, and not (as late metaphysicians express themselves) only a 
state of the mind, consequent upon sensation ; because the state of 
perceiving could not exist without the mind had a power of percep- 
tion, any more than visible objects could be seen without the sense 
of sight. Attention is a power of voluntarily receiving repetitions 
of perception, by which the mind becomes so deeply impressed 
with the subjects of its perceptions, that after the acts of perception 
cease, these subjects continue in the mind, though unnoticed, until 
they are again called for; and this impression is called remem- 
brance, and the peculiar quality or power of the mind which re- 
tains impressions is called the faculty of memory. Attention is 
certainly voluntary to a great extent. We can divert our minds 
from one subject of perception to another, if we will ; and we can 
choose between two subjects to which we will give our attention, 
(i. e.,) from which we will receive those repeated impressions of 
perception which alone create a perfect impress upon the memory ; 
and skill and judgment in so choosing are perhaps the highest ope- 
rations of human intellect. Reflection is the use the mind makes 
of the perceptions it derives from external things ; and the faculty 
of reflection, or reason, is the engine of power by which man sub- 
dues and has dominion over the whole earth. The abstract combi- 
nations of images and impressions made upon the memory are 
called up by this noble faculty of reflection; and not only is 
man enabled by it to discover the grandest and the most secret 
principles of nature ; to measure the distances of worlds from each 
other, and predict their revolutions with certainty; to trace and 
guide the lightnings of heaven ; to convert the diamond into thin- 
nest air, and condense the subtle gases into heaviest fluid ; but, by 
the exercise of imagination or invention, he can create, from the 
stores of memory, new and beautiful combinations, to extend infi- 
nitely the circle of pleasures by which nature has surrounded him ; 
but he can go still farther — he can, with moral certainty, discern in 
all these things the eternal power and godhead of their Maker. 
And this, my dear children, is the point to which I would ever 
bring back your active powers — to God your Maker, to whom 
you are bound in gratitude by every thing that he has done for 
you in creation. 

1. What is intellect? 2. What is a visual spectrum? 3. What is the im- 
pression made by it on the mind called ? 4. Can the sensation exist without a 
corresponding perception ? 5. What evidence have we that spirit can per- 
ceive matter) 6. What can cause the idea to be imperfect, when the visible 
image has been perfect: 7. Do we know how the image is transferred from 
the eye to the mind? 8. What effect has bodily disease upon the faculties? 
9. To what do we attribute thought ? 10. If the combination of body and 
mind is man, what is spirit called in Scripture i 11. What principles are com- 



LECTURE xr. 65 

LECTURE XL 

CULTIVATION OP THE INTELLECT. 

Wisdom is the principal thing: therefore get wisdom; and with all thy get- 
ting, get understanding. — Prov., iv., 7. 

My dear young friends : 

To increase the sum of our own happiness, and our power of 
being useful to others, is the rational and legitimate motive for 
seeking knowledge. Such inquiries, then, as can never end in cer- 
tainty, but rather unsettle the basis of all rational faith, and all con- 
fidence, even in our own senses, must of necessity be discarded 
by the moralist, whose sole object is to determine the true grounds 
of duty, and principles of action. Without then attempting to de- 
cide any metaphysical question, as to the " immaterial substance 
which is the substratum of mind," we will confine ourselves to the 
facts furnished by experience, to prove that the mind is a compound 
of senses and intellectual faculties. That these are separable, de- 
structible, and improvable; that an imperfect or defective mind 
may exist without each and several of them, but not without the 
whole of them ; as a human being does not lose his character of 
humanity by being born blind or losing his sight, although sight is 
an essential constituent of human nature; for if all men had been 

mon to man and other animals ? 12. What animal appears to have the appe- 
tites and organs of sense in the lowest state ? IS. What is the usual order of 
Providence on this subject ? 14. What would be the -effect if all animals had 
equally acute senses? 15. What do we perceive to be the order of Providence 
with respect to vegetables ? 1(5. What with regard to fleet, to timid, to fierce, 
to defenceless animals ? 17. In what proportions are the intellectual faculties 
given to animals ? 18. Could the oyster's powers be expanded? 19. Why 
have some concluded all animals to be immortal ? 20. Why do we conclude 
this not to be so ? 21. How do the faculties of animals continue latent? 22. 
Are those of men developed in the same way? 23. Were the faculties not 
•expansible and contractible, what would become of a genius like Milton, if 
born to ignorance and obscurity ? 24. What if the faculties were not expansi- 
ble would be the effect if the children of the vulgar and ignorant were to 
-change their condition to a higher ? 25. How is this similarity in the minds of 
men and brutes exemplified by anecdotes of brutes? 26. What is said of the 
Canary bird ? 27. What of the learned pig ? 28. What of the dogs of St. 
Bernard's ? 29. What of an elephant ? 30. What do these expansions of in- 
tellect in other animals prove to man ? 31. How does man acquire some of his 
highest attainments ? 32. What effect has his being unclothed by nature ? 33. 
What comparisons is he forced to make between himself and other animals ? 
34. In what has he the advantage of them ? 35. How is he naturally led to 
think of immortality? 36. What is said of the faculties of a young man in 
England? 37. What are the faculties of the mind? 38. What is perception, 
and what two meanings has the word ? 39. What is attention, and what the 
impression made by it? 40. What is memory? 41. Is attention voluntary ? 
42. What is considered as the highest exercise ot the human intellect ? 43. 
What is reflection ? 44. What are the powers of reason, or reflection ? 

6* 



66 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



created without sight, they would not have been that animal which 
we call man, but a very different one. To ascertain, then, these 
separate faculties, to measure their natural scope, to improve and 
strengthen, and carefully to preserve them from injury, or destruc- 
tion, is the business of the moral philosopher. Each sense, and 
each mental faculty, is naturally so highly expansible and improva- 
ble, that, in the incipient state of infancy, it can scarcely be said to 
exist ; while, as they are developed and enlarged by the operation 
of external circumstances, the mind becomes so powerful as to ex- 
alt the individual almost to superhuman virtue, talent or wisdom. 
The cultivation of the intellect, then, in its proper acceptation, is 
the fitting and preparing the being for the purposes intended in its 
creation ; and as, in the business of life, various purposes have to 
be effected by human agency, and various offices have to be filled 
by human beings, to have reference to the probable destiny of each 
individual in after life, and carefully to surround them by sucti 
external influences as will best develope the senses and faculties 
peculiarly to be called for, in the offices they are individually des- 
tined to fill, is the primary object of education. Every individual 
of the human race is destined by the Creator to fill one exalted and 
noble station, which demands that we should bring every faculty to 
the highest perfection. We are all children of God ; our intellects 
are emanations from him, as little rills from the great Fountain of 
wisdom and intelligence ; and we are destined to live in his s 
and to take stations hereafter in his kingdom, accordingly as we 
are found prepared by the developement of such high powers as 
are suited to so high a destiny. But our relations to God are 
merely relations of moral affections, independent of those relations 
to our fellow creatures which demand various degrees and kinds 
of intellectual improvement. The highest degree of wisdom, for 
instance, is evinced in entering so far into the designs of God's pro- 
vidence, as to be perfectly willing to fill the offices in life which by 
men are considered most degraded, when thereby we know that 
we exalt ourselves in the favor of Heaven : as Christ left his Fa- 
ther's throne to take upon him a station despised and rejected of 
men, and to be a " servant of no repute." But, since to be emi- 
nently useful to man is a lawful desire, and leads to active efforts 
for their good, the improvement of those faculties which are of most 
use in the business of human life is the duty of all ; and in this a 
careful estimate should be made of the means by which our sphere 
of duties might be enlarged. Our studies, therefore, should a! v. 
be so directed as best to fit us for the duties which belong to the 
station that God has most evidently assigned us. For one, who 
has been designed for the station of manual labor, to fix his de- 
upon the acquirements of the scholar, unless some rational means 
of changing his condition in life is apparent, is equally weak and 
rebellious against the Deity ; but to use every means afforded by 
our situation in life, to enlarge cur sphere of knowledge and our 



LECTURE XI. 67 

own powers of mind, is but to prepare ourselves for the possible 
contingencies of futurity. It is where the cloud-capped mountains 
send back from their everlasting bases the waves of the raging 
ocean, that the imagination is exalted to the sublimity of the epic 
and the ode ; while, amid the mossy banks, where the bee lurks in 
the cowslips-bell, fancy learns playfulness and gentleness. Childe 
Harold could never have originated with a barber's boy ; Oberon 
and Titania could not have had birth in a tallow-chandler's shop ; 
neither, if Benjamin Franklin had fed his father's flock on the hills, 
would the practical wisdom and sagacity of Poor Richard have 
sowed the seeds of domestic and political economy in the fresh soil 
of our young republic. Revolutions are said to make great men ; 
and it is certainly under the influence of extraordinary external 
circumstances that the most extraordinary men have arisen ; and 
yet, I would not be understood to maintain that all the differences 
which are observable between men are produced by external cir- 
cumstances. It is certainly by a happy coincidence of fortuitous 
events, acting upon a mind of peculiar powers and propensities, 
that certain effects are produced. Not every boy who winds his 
lonely way by moonlight, in a market cart, and sees the glowing 
concave of the heavens above his head, will thence become an as- 
tronomer like Newton. Not every child has little Franklin's fine- 
strung chord of sensibility, which vibrated so long and deeply with 
the spell of those simple words, " You have paid too much for your 
whistle." The faculties must exist, in order to be developed ; and 
the faculties are naturally possessed in unequal degrees ; but edu- 
cation may ultimately make that strongest which was originally 
weakest ; and almost exterminate that which naturally had the su- 
periority. The whole business, then, of education is, to study the 
natural peculiarities of the mind, to form the best estimate of the pro- 
bable destiny of the being, and then to surround the subject (whether 
oneself or another) with such influences from without as will tend 
to develope the faculties in due proportion, to suit the condition and 
duties in life to which we may reasonably anticipate being called. 
In the abstract, certainly the most perfect education is that which 
brings all the faculties to their highest developement ; but, as this 
can hardly be effected, the most judicious in practice appears to be 
that which, ascertaining the natural bent of the mind, brings the 
strongest talent to its highest perfection, and gives every other as 
liberal cultivation as is consistent with the peculiar duties of the 
individual. An active life of business, and acquaintance with the 
natural sciences, should give activity and vigor to the perceptive 
faculties. Habits of comparison, and tracing remote causes, with 
the study of arithmetic, logic and mathematics, will best develope 
the reasoning and reflective faculties. The inventive or imagina- 
tive require unconstrained intercourse with naiads, nymphs of 
fountains, goddesses of groves and mountains, with the genii of 
the dark forest, and the fays and fairies of the moonlight green ; 



68 POPULAR LECTURES. 

with the wild storm and the torrent, the tangled copse and flowery 
dell, the eagle waving his broad wing over the blasted oak, and the 
linnet warbling by its sequestered nest. Every image of sublimity 
and beauty in nature, with an early and general acquaintance with 
poetry and belles-lettres, must be assembled around the youthful 
mind, if imagination is to be improved. A due subordination of 
the faculties to each other, forming a fine balance between them, is 
the highest state of perfection of the human mind. A very strong 
propensity, then, of the mind of a child, should be considered as 
an indication of the direction to be given to its education ; but, at 
the same time, the mind should be most assisted by culture in 
those points in which it is naturally weakest, as the judicious hus- 
bandman improves and manures those spots in his fields which re- 
quire it, although not every part alike. The opposite course to 
this is often pursued by parents and teachers. When pleased with 
the progress of a child in some favorite study, they bestow so 
much praise, and take such means to encourage and aid them, as 
effectually establishes the partial bent of strong power, which, di- 
rected exclusively and passionately to one subject, finally produces 
an enthusiastic fanatic, or absent pedant ; while, if properly checked 
and counterpoised by the developement of the other faculties, there 
was force enough to have matured a noble and highly accomplished 
character, thoroughly furnished for every good purpose in life. 
Imagination is an active faculty, which generally foreruns reason 
and judgment, especially in sanguine and volatile tempers. The 
faculty which requires most cultivation, and in which the mass of 
mankind appear most deficient, is reason or reflection. Percep- 
tion and imagination are so nearly involuntary, and kept so much 
in exercise, that we seldom find individuals remarkably deficient in 
them. Images must be received by the senses, and these images 
must produce their corresponding perceptions. Imagination will 
play amid the variety of these ideas, and form fanciful combina- 
tions, as children weave garlands of flowers; but reasoning re- 
quires a labor of mind to which few are trained. The close analy- 
sis of ideas, which acquaintance with all and each of their intrinsic 
properties, and the synthetic process of combining the elements of 
thought so as to produce with certainty the effect at which we aim, 
is not the result of natural talent, but of systematic study and ac- 
curate knowledge. The careful study of Mr. Locke's Essay on the 
Conduct of the Understanding, and Dr. Watts on the Culture of the 
Mind, and other such works, with attention to the hints given for 
the arrangement of external influences, and the course of study 
best calculated to effect the desired object, must still leave each 
individual to fail or succeed, as they are themselves zealously bent 
upon effecting the object for themselves, according to circumstances. 

1. What is the mind ? 2. Are those separable? 3. Are they improvable? 
4. How is the mind enlarged ? 5. What is the cultivation of the intellect ? 6. 



LECTURE XII. 69 

LECTURE XII. 

ON THE DUTY OF PRESERVING THE HEALTH. 

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty 
to consume away like a moth.— Ps., xxxix., 11. 

Health may be said to be not only the greatest of temporal 
blessings in itself, but also the magna charta by which we are se- 
cured in the enjoyment of almost every other blessing and privi- 
lege which God has granted to man while on earth. Say, we de- 
sire but the lowest of all pleasures, those of eating and drink- 
ing, yet does our very food become disgusting to us, if the diges- 
tion is deranged ; while stimulated by the irritation of the digestive 
organs, we sometimes crave, even to the hour of dissolution, unna- 
tural aliment, devour it with ravenous avidity, and still feel the 
gnawing anxiety for more, from which dyspeptic subjects seem to 
suffer the horrors of actual starvation in the midst of plenty. Do 
we desire the pleasures of the social appetite? Disease binds our 
unwilling spirits for weeks, months, and years, in the dark solitude 
of a gloomy chamber. We hear the carriage wheels rolling rapid- 
ly by to the festive hall, where once we were the nucleus around 
which mirth and glee concentrated. On our couch of long and 
painful endurance, we may but fancy how splendid the lights, how 
tasteful the decorations, how delicious the refreshments, how fine 
the music, how lovely the women, how gay the men; and, alas! sad 
prisoners at that period of existence when nature stirs within us 
the strongest sympathies with society, never again shall we join 
the happy companions of our former pleasures. Do we desire the 
full enjoyment of the senses 1 Their keen relish is all blunted by 
disease; the vision is rendered dull, or the hearing is morbidly 
acute; the taste rejects with disgust the most delicious food; the 
odors of the most delicate flowers oppress our fastidious nerves ; 

How is it to be effected ? 7. What one exalted station is destined for every 
human creature ? 8. What are our relations to God independent of ? 9. Give 
the example. 10. What is our duty with regard to a choice of station ? 11. 
Should we not use every means to enlarge our sphere of knowledge ? 12. How 
is the imagination affected by outward circumstances? 18. What is said of 
revolutions ? 14. Are the differences in men to be attributed to external cir- 
cumstances ? 15. What effect do they produce ? 16. What is the whole busi- 
ness of education ? 17. What is the most perfect education ? 18. What will 
best develope the reflective faculties ? 19. What the inventive? 20. What is 
the highest state of perfection of the human mind ? 21. How then should we 
cultivate the faculties, all equally ? 22. How do parents and teachers often 
make enthusiasts and pedants of fine children ? 23. What faculty requires 
most culture? 24. What faculties are persons not often very deficient in? 
25. What two authors are recommended? 26. What is, after all, more re- 
quisite than every thing else ? 



70 POPULAR LECTURES. 

all our sources of animal pleasure are converted into means of tor- 
ment; even intellect falls into a premature imbecility, and early 
dotage, from the suffering of the body. Have we higher aims 
than mere animal gratification! Do we desire to mingle in the 
active business of life 1 Disease forbids alike both our pleasures 
and our business. The man whose generous, active and enlight- 
ed spirit would have diffused blessings and improvements through- 
out his sphere of life, is lost to the world, and a burthen to himself 
The woman whose domestic virtues would have been exercised in 
providing for and governing the household, nursing- the sick, teach- 
ing children, trimming the glowing hearth and preparing the cheer- 
ful repast, and happy relaxation of fireside pleasures, for the father, 
the husband, or the brother, as they return to lay down the bur- 
then of business, and rest- in the bosom of domestic enjoyments, is 
but the cause of keenest anguish. The daily sabbath, which God 
has appointed for those who sustain the weight of human institu- 
tions, is broken when sickness casts a gloom over their mansion of 
rest; when the parlor is neglected, and the innocent jest and 
joyous laugh of circling mirth are suppressed, and the depressing 
anticipation of probable calamity hangs over every heart, and the 
soft and placid worship of a grateful thanksgiving is exchanged for 
a heart-rending supplication, for exemption from a grief which may 
not be delayed. Slowly and sadly the benevolent physician ap- 
proaches yonder silent mansion ; follow him, as, with noiseless step, 
he glides through the half-open door. Is it that the gentle, devoted 
partner of the good man's bosom, whose beautiful infant lies there 
smiling in its slumbers, whose noble boys have crept silently to 
their beds, unblest by the mother who was wont to visit their clos- 
ing eyes with a glance of fondness, whose little sylph-like daugh- 
ter, unconscious of all the sad reverses of her future destiny, but 
grieving to see her mother suffer and her father weep, sits mourn- 
fully sobbing, almost unknowing why. Is she (the mother) pass- 
ing through the awful struggle between life and death ? And, my 
dear young friends, does she find the bitterest pang, even in this 
scene of wo and of personal bodily anguish, in the recollection 
which clings to her even now, that the foundation of all this mise- 
ry she herself laid in youth, by some act of thoughtless impru- 
dence. She but stepped on the wet grass to gather a flower ; or 
she did but exchange a winter garment for a summer one. incau- 
tiously; or she did but throw off her cloak when heated; or seat 
herself in some tempting draft of air ; and, since that time, she has 
always been liable to colds ; and although the delicate tints of her 
cheek have since glowed with a brighter carmine, yet has her 
health never been restored; and now the necessary cares of a 
family have crushed her fragile constitution, and she looks at her 
helpless infants, soon to be motherless, and a pang of remorse 
darts through her soul, keener than any corporeal suffering. Oh, 



LECTURE XII. 



71 



my God ! she would exclaim, how severely do we purchase our ex- 
perience. How do our sins follow and chastise us for our pre- 
sumptuous contempt of the advice of those who have gone before 
us, and who would, if we had permitted them, have piloted us 
through the dangers to which we are exposed. But, alas ! it is by 
blighted hopes, and wasted time, and ruined fortune, and the wreck 
of loves, friendships, peace, and every comfort of existence, that 
we are taught that discretion which can now avail for nothing, but 
to humble the pride of our breaking hearts. Oh ! my daughter, 
take warning by the fate of your unhappy mother, and listen to 
the counsels of the aged and experienced, and cast not upon the 
die of a momentary gratification, the possession of such an inesti- 
mable boon as health. And will she take this deeply affecting 
warning ; or will she, too, follow the flower and the butterfly, or 
any other form of sensual gratification, even at the expense of a 
life of suffering, and a death of remorse ] 

To abstain from every thing which may injure our health, with- 
out some justifiable motive induces us to incur the risk, is as much 
a moral duty, as to abstain from lying or stealing, or any other 
infracion of a known law of God. The offence is as certain, or 
more certain of punishment, immediately from the hand of God ; 
and it is therefore that I have given so prominent a place, among 
the obligations of morality, to the preservation of health, by every 
means of care and precaution. Whatever God punishes by the re- 
gular provisions of his Providence, is thereby proved to be offensive 
to him. It is our duty to devote our bodies and spirits as a rea- 
sonable sacrifice to the service of God; and our Savior says, "He 
that will lose his life for my sake, and the Gospel's, shall keep it 
unto life eternal." But how shall we make an acceptable offering 
to God, of that which we value so little, as to waste and destroy it 
in wanton folly? I therefore exhort you, dear children, as you 
love good, and as you fear the judgments of Almighty God, dare 
not to trifle with his precious gift of health. The following are 
simple rules for its preservation, derived from the wisdom of ages. 

First. Purity of body and mind are absolutely essential to health. 
Keep your mind free from all bad passions, and be cleanly in all 
your habits. Attention to regular ablutions, in which as much 
water should be used as can be had conveniently, is of the first 
importance to health. If circumstances permit it, a bath is best ; if 
not, as general and free use of water in washing as is practicable. 
In a variable climate like ours a warm bath is (if possible) to be 
made use of in every family ; and a frequent and regular change 
of clothes is as essential to health as to propriety and comfort. 

Second. Sleep no more, generally, than eight hours, and let that 
be habitually at the same time of the night ; as habits are very 
powerful, and sleep is sounder at the usual time of repose than at 
unusual hours. The darkness of night, and the exhaustion of the 



72 FOPULAR LECTURES. 

nervous system during the day, both promote sleep at those hours 
which nature indicates. 

Third. Eat moderately of light food, and only at regular times ; 
let your usual food be simple ; of high-seasoned dishes, preserves, 
confections, &c. eat seldom, and very sparingly. Such food stimu- 
lates the digestive organs, which consequently fall into a state of 
debility; and thus, by alternate excitement and depression, the 
powers of life are worn out. 

Fourth. Clothe yourself according to the variations of climate to 
which you are exposed ; and never think it unimportant, even for 
a few moments, to guard against those sudden vicissitudes to which 
we are peculiarly exposed in our country. Never, from any mo- 
tive of comfort or convenience, make any change of raiment, that 
will check the insensible perspiration, which is appointed by the 
wisdom of the Creator as the great preservative of every function 
of the animal frame. 

Fifth. Keep your feet warm, and never walk out in thin shoes, 
for fear of accidental exposure to damp ; but always put off walk- 
ing shoes, and especially Indian rubbers, on entering the house. 
Never throw off wrappers in the cold, when heated, nor wear them 
in a warm room. 

Sixth. Never sit in a draft of air; but remember Dr. Arnott's old 
proverb: 

" If you sit in the air that come? through a hole, 

Go home, make your will, and take care of your soul." 

Seventh. Take as much and as regular exercise as you can 
without excessive fatigue. If the weather does not admit of exer- 
cise in the open air, use dancing, jumping the rope, Callisthenics, or 
other active amusements, within doors, daily, until your blood cir- 
culates and your animal spirits are stirred up. Let no ambitious 
desire for knowledge or accomplishments lead you to neglect these 
rules. 

For what avail the largest gifts of Heaven, 

When drooping health and spirits go amiss ; 
How tasteless then whatever can be given. 

Health is the vital principle of bliss, 

And exercise of health. In proof of this, 
Behold the wretch who slugs his life away, 

Soon swallow'd in diseases' sad abyss; 
While he whom toil has braced, or manly play, 
As light as air each limb, each thought as clear as day. 

Oh ! who can speak the vig'rous joys of health, 

Unclogg'd the body, unobscured the mind. 
The morning rises gay, with pleasing stealth, 

The temperate evening falls serene and kind. 
See how the younglings irisk along the meads, 

As May comes on, and wakes the balmy wind; 
Rampant with life, their joy all joy exceeds ; 
Yet what, but high-strung health," this dancing pleasance breeds. 



LECTURE XII. 73 

Eighth. To conclude, above all things else, keep your mind se- 
rene, and cultivate a virtuous, innocent, and cheerful temper. The 
habitual exercise of patience and fortitude, faith, hope and charity, 
promotes highly the preservation of health and long life ; and an in- 
dulgence of worldly passions impairs the body as it does the mind ; 
for, 

Alike in this only, enjoyment and pain 

Both weaken the springs of those nerves which they strain. 

Ninth. In all these things study to ascertain the laws, both mo- 
ral and physical, which your Creator ordained for you to walk in, 
and be regulated by them ; for, in so doing, you will most certainly 
secure your own happiness ; while, by violating them, you commit 
sin, and will surely bring upon yourselves those rebukes of his pro- 
vidence, under which not only your beauty, but your comfort, use- 
fulness, and happiness will be consumed, "as the moth fretteth 
away the garments of wool." 

" For when God with rebukes doth correct man for iniquity, he 
maketh his beauty to consume away like a moth." 

1. Why is health called a magna charta? 2. How does ill health deprive us 
of the enjoyment of the appetites ? 3. How does it affect our social pleasures? 
4. How does it affect the senses ? 5. How does it affect society ? 6. How 
does it affect domestic happiness ? 7. Do we get rid of the effects of our sins 
when we are sorry for them ? 8. How are we taught discretion ? 9. If our 
happiness is destroyed, of what use is our experience ? 10. How far is it our 
duty to abstain from injuring our health ? 11. How is an offence against God 
proved ? 12. What does our Savior say of our sacrifice of life to him ? 13. 
Will he accept this sacrifice if we despise our life ? 14. What is the first rule 
for the preservation of health ? 15. What the second ? 16. What the third ? 
1.7. What the fourth ? 18. What the fifth ? 19. What the sixth ? 20. What 
the seventh ? 21. What the eighth ? 22. What the ninth ? 



74 POPULAR LECTURES. 



LECTURE XIII. 

CONSCIENCE 310 RAL FACULTY, OR MORAL SENSE. 

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things con- 
tained in the law, these, having not the la;v, are a law unto themselves: 
which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their consciences also 
bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing 
one another. — Rom., ii., 14, 15. 

By a course of reasoning, illustrated by facts, I have endeavored 
to show you, that although the physical and intellectual powers of 
man are more improvable than those of every other animal, yet 
they are not absolutely and necessarily superior ; because, without 
moral government, man not only loses his supremacy in creation, 
but becomes, by vice and indolence, more despicable and degraded 
than the brutes ; since his is a brutality of volition, theirs of neces- 
sity. This being so, it becomes of the highest importance to us 
that we should ascertain the intention of our Creator, as to the 
means of effecting the improvement of wiiich we are naturally 
susceptible, and whether also this susceptibility of improvement 
reaches to such a perfection as he would choose to immortalize in 
glory and honor. Upon this ground I would be understood dis- 
tinctly to place the prospects of a future state; because it meets all 
the cavils of false philosophy, of materialists, and idealists. Who- 
ever admits that man has a created being, (and who is incapable of 
seeing that he has !) must admit that, if his Creator please, he can 
destroy and create again his own work. And, moreover, in the 
same way that conscious identity and memory raise us up, after 
the oblivion of a sound sleep, to the perception that we are the 
same persons who committed certain acts, before we fell into the 
periodical state of oblivion, through which we have passed in sleep, 
we may be re-created after death, with the same condition of mind 
and body with which we died ; and may feel at the resurrection as 
if death had been but a sleep from which we had awakened un- 
changed, and thus have the same sense of being the subject of re- 
wards or punishments, for deeds done in this life, that we have to- 
day of deeds done by us yesterday. This argument proves the 
possibility of a resurrection, by reasoning from facts. The great 
probability of such a resurrection is proved by its being natural to 
the human mind to believe it ; so that no one disbelieves it but the 
brutalized herd, who never look beyond the present gratification of 
low propensities, and know none of their own highest capabilities ; 
and a few who have taken pains to persuade themselves to the 
contrary, by ingenious sophisms. The question then occurs, why 
is it natural to the human mind ) Certainly, because God so formed 
the mental constitution that it is naturally led to such a belief; 



LECTURE XIII. 75 

whence again we derive the belief in a separate faculty, which we 
call conscience. He formed the constitution of man's mind, and 
gave it a capacity or faculty to perceive moral truth, as distinct 
from animal propensities and intellectual powers, and this we call 
conscience. 

We see, in our intercourse with men, some who are capable of 
the profoundest reasoning, and whose great powers of mind are 
combined with many attractive, social qualities, which render them 
beloved in society, and who yet, through life, pursue a reckless and 
vicious course, which is totally at war with the principles of moral 
truth and virtue. We will take, as instances, two very well known 
persons, Swift and Sterne, men whose strong intellectual powers 
and happy convivial talents have made them highly celebrated. 
They were ministers of our holy religion, and yet their domestic 
lives proved them to be vicious and without a conscience, or moral 
faculty, corresponding to their mental and animal developements. 
In the language of common life, says Dr. Abercrombie, we some- 
times speak of a moral insanity, in which a man rushes headlong 
through a course of vice and crime, regardless of every moral re- 
straint, of every social tie, and of all consequences, whether imme- 
diate or future. Phrenology may assist us in accounting for such 
phenomena ; but I apprehend that there is still another and more 
important principle, than any belonging to our created nature, which 
must be taken into the account, before we can understand these 
facts perfectly. The phrenologist justly determines that a tendency 
to religion is a part of our nature ; therefore he places veneration, 
(or a disposition to look up to some superior being,) among our 
natural characteristics. No one will deny that there is such a fea- 
ture in human nature. The atheist denies all religion upon that 
ground, and the theologist defends all religion upon that same 
ground ; but at present we only ask to have the fact admitted that 
a tendency to religion is natural to man; and then we propose to 
examine this propensity, as we have done every other constituent 
principle of man's compound nature. We have seen that the ap- 
petites come first into operation, and we judge that they were given 
for their natural use — to preserve and protect our animal existence. 
Next come the senses ; they were given each for their own proper 
use in the animal economy — the eye to see with, the ear to hear 
with, &c. Next, the intellectual faculties are provided to enable us 
to reason upon such connexions and relations of things as are not 
obvious to the senses. Every other principle of man's nature, then, 
being clearly given for a separate and definite purpose, when we 
perceive this moral faculty, through which we alone, of all animals, 
have a tendency to religion, and, when we consider what a power- 
ful principle religion is, we are authorized to conclude certainly, 
that it was made a part of our nature, that it might answer the 
purpose which it naturally serves. But it naturally serves no 



76 POPULAR LECTURES. 

other purpose than to make us believe in a God, and believe that 
we have certain relations with that God, with an invisible world, 
and a future state. The principle is naturally so powerful that it 
leads men to sacrifice the present good and gratification of every 
other principle of their nature, in efforts to obtain that of which 
they naturally know nothing, and about which they naturally fall 
into the grossest mistakes. We must consider, then, this part of 
our compound nature as an anomaly, (being a faculty created to 
mislead, or lead into error,) unless we admit that it was created to 
become the medium of communication between the Creator and 
his creature ; and that those things which, by its nature, it was 
made to desire and seek for, were purposely placed beyond the 
reach of its created powers, that they might, by a subsequent com- 
munication, be yielded to the ardor of its < . res. 

A certain degree of truth has been communicated through rea- 
son, by the author of our being, to direct us to the true use of the 
moral faculty ; or, in other words, to the ultimate purpose for which 
a tendency to religion was engrafted in our nature ; for, since the 
intentions of God in creation are discoverable by the effects of his 
creation, and it is justly concluded that the organs were made for 
the purposes which they naturally effect, no one doubting that the 
eye was made to see with, the hands to work with, the feet to walk 
with ; so, when we see that there is any faculty in the mind of 
man, by which he is led naturally to perceive something, we justly 
conclude this faculty to have been provided for the purpose of re- 
vealing this thing to him. As when we see that the faculty of 
memory enables us to know that the sun rises at a certain hour ; 
that spring-time and harvest return at certain seasons ; that some 
substances are good for food, some others poisonous &c. we do 
not doubt that memory was intended to serve these purr*- 
therefore we should not doubt that a faculty, different from all other 
faculties, was intended for the purpose for which it universally 
serves. It has already been observed, that it is natural to man to 
believe in actual communication between the Spirit of the Creator 
and the spirit of the creature ; and wise and good men have called 
conscience, or that faculty which produces an inward sense of right 
and wrong, and which determines the moral quality of act; 
" the voice of God within us ;" because it is natural "for us to at- 
tribute to him who made us those sentiments which he constrains 
us by our nature to entertain. Conscience is not the God 

within us, else would it be infallible ; but conscience is the moral 
faculty by which we are able to communicate with the Deity, and 
to hear his voice, (if indeed we will mind it,) within us. Through 
conscience he naturally leads us to consider the things of him 
which are to be known by the visible things of creation, even •• his 
eternal power and godhead;'' and when, by wmndwj !\iul 

expresses himself in the original,) these natural revelations of his 



LECTURE XIII. 77 

great attributes, we come to believe that the God who made us 
intended us to see what his own character is ; he intended us also to 
see that our own virtue and happiness require much to perfect them, 
according to the criterion of his divine holiness and felicity. By- 
giving us this strong sense of deficiency in his creation, and yet a 
full conviction that this deficiency is discordant with his immutable 
will and perfections, we have to draw but one conclusion, that he 
intended us, by some means, to fill up the measure of this defi- 
ciency, and bring ourselves within the harmony of his universal 
laws. The perception that we have no power from nature to do 
so leaves us no other alternative but to appeal to him to do that 
for us which he evidently intends and requires of us, and which he 
enables us to see he can do, and we cannot. That he intended us 
thus to appeal to him, under a sense of our moral wants, we per- 
ceive from the natural use of prayer so directed, which is to hum- 
ble false pride, and increase purity of heart. This leads us more 
ardently to long after those rewards which our conscience perceives 
God must have in reserve for the pure in heart. Desire for immor- 
tality is implanted so deeply in the human heart, as to lead men, 
whether ignorant or enlightened, (unless brutalized by excessive 
indulgence of the animal propensities,) to sacrifice their present 
comforts and enjoyments to the hope of obtaining it. The only 
difference to be observed among men, upon the subject of a natu- 
ral tendency to religion, is, that the principle is modified, like every 
other principle of our nature, by education ; the enlightened in all 
ages having perceived that to " do justly, love mercy, and walk 
humbly with God," was the true means of obtaining his favor; 
while barbarous nations have considered only his great poiver in 
creation, and so have endeavored to propitiate this attribute alone 
by senseless and cruel sacrifices. For us, we have satisfactory 
evidence to conclude that the God of creation and the God of the 
Scriptures is one God. That he created man with one faculty 
possessed by no other creature upon earth, and that this faculty is 
the established medium of communication with himself. 

That the expressions of prayer, under a sense of want, and of 
praise, when filled with a perception of his glorious attributes, are 
the natural results of our being created with the moral faculty 
which we call conscience, and are as much institutions of the 
Creator, as to eat when we are hungry, and drink when we are 
thirsty. That it was intended from the creation that man should 
keep up a continual intercourse with his Creator ; and that in pro- 
portion as he improved the light of natural revelation, (which was 
too weak to produce perfection,) God intended to add more and 
more, by especial revelation, through his Spirit striving with the 
heart, through laws and prophets, and, finally, through his only 
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ ; and that he intended we should go on 
from light to light, until, by that measure of the Spirit given in 

7* 



78 POPULAR LECTURES. 

Christ, we are called upon through an enlightened conscience to " be 
perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect." We have now but to 
test our lives and actions, by means of conscience, with the Savior's 
life and actions, to pray to him for the Spirit which he has promised 
to give us, and to apply the principles laid down by him to the regu- 
lation of our conduct, in all the various relations of life, and we 
shall then find in ourselves a perfect conformity to the unchanging 
rule of right, which has never been hid from man, since the eternal 
wisdom, power and goodness of God were first revealed in the 
creation. 

Having settled the foundation of moral duty, and found that God 
has given the Scriptures as a practical code, and Christ as an Ex- 
emplar, with conscience as interpreter, we will proceed to show, in 
the various divisions of moral duty, how the same principle is to 
be applied to every relation of life. 

1. How is man made worse than the brutes ? 2. Upon what ground do we 
place our hopes of immortality? 3. Why? 4. How do we expect to be 
raised ? 5. What facts prove the possibility of a resurrection ? fc. What its 
probability ? 7. Why is it natural to man to believe it? 8. What is the capa- 
city or faculty for receiving moral truth ? 9. Does it exist independent of in- 
tellect? 10. Who were remarkable instances: 11. What does Abercrombie 
say of moral insanity ? 12. Is it natural to man to be religious? 13. What 
were the appetites and senses given for? 14. What faculty gives us ideas of 
religion ? 15. For what then do we conclude that a moral faculty was given? 
16. Can it be that this laculty is intended to deceive ? 17. For what then could 
it be intended? 18. What does reason teach us is the true use of a moral fa- 
culty? 19. What is the faculty of memory given for: I has con- 
science been called ? 21. Why is ttiis not correct? 22. Wl y did God reveal 
himself to our moral sense? '23. What is the perception of deficiency given 
tor? 24 How are we led to prayer? 25. V. has the dtsire* for im- 
mortality ? 26. What di lie: find in natural religion under different 
modes of education ? 27. What do prayt r and praise result from ? - 
was intended from the creation ? 2i). How did the Deity intend this to ope- 
rate? 30. How was it to produce perfection? 31. What is our moral code? 
32. Who is our Exemplar? 33 What our interpreter? 34. Can the same prin- 
ciple be applied to every relation in life? 



LECTURE XIV. 79 

LECTURE XIV. 

RECAPITULATION. 

So God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him. — 

Gen., i., 27. 

In a slight review of the course we have gone through in our 
investigations of the principles of moral philosophy, I would now 
remind you, that we commenced by stating moral philosophy to 
be the science of human happiness, &c, and this to be under- 
stood in the extended sense of the general happiness of the human 
race, as well as of the personal felicity of each individual who 
studies and practises its principles. The whole frame and system 
of God's creation has been so organized, that whoever acts virtu- 
ously, not only promotes thereby his own good and happiness, but 
that of other persons, and these again of others; so that goodness 
and felicity are diffused around the good man, as heat is radiated 
from warm bodies, and warms surrounding objects with which it 
comes in contact, and sends forth through them its genial rays ; 
until, far and near, its beneficent and cheering influence is equally 
diffused. The aim of moral philosophy, I have endeavored to show 
you, is, to produce in man the nearest possible approach to divine 
perfection of which the creature is susceptible. Supposing this to 
be the end proposed by the Creator, whether that end should be 
effected suddenly, or by gradual progressions, doubtless the object 
of laying, in the nature of things, the foundation of the principles of 
moral philosophy, which were afterwards to be developed by the 
natural course of his providence, was to effect a gradual and cor- 
relative improvement in the virtue and happiness of the human 
race. Looking into the reason of things, under the influence of a 
study which has for its end the moral improvement of man, and 
for its means an examination of the will of God, as seen in the 
immutable truth of his attributes, we perceive that the progress in 
virtue and happiness of the human race, as necessarily and natu- 
rally flows from such means, as the feather mounts aloft by its levi- 
ty, or the lead falls by its weight. 

Assuming it as a position not to be denied, that man has from his 
Creator a portion of wisdom, goodness and power, and that, by 
possessing these, he resembles God, and is made capable of com- 
prehending the indications of his attributes in the works of crea- 
tion, we must perceive, also, that he is intended to use his own 
moral attributes in as close an imitation of his Maker as his limit- 
ed powers admit. 

If it is objected, that the possession of this resemblance to the 
Deity has never, as yet, produced such an imitation as we speak of, 



80 POPULAR LECTURES. 

I answer, because a principle which does not belong to the divine 
Being is permitted, by coming earlier into operation, to obtain in 
childhood and youth a sway which it is scarcely possible after- 
wards to overset ; I mean the animal nature. I trust that, from 
our past lessons, you have been prepared to agree with me in be- 
lieving that, if a man could have been created with a spiritual in- 
telligence, without any corporeal nature, he must have been good 
and wise; since then he would have had knowledge without passion, 
and could have seen clearly the sad effects of human passions in 
the government of human life, and the superior happiness to be de- 
rived from conforming to the will of God ; while the insignificant 
motives which operate so powerfully upon the passions, and lead 
man from the pursuit of his true good, could have offered him no 
temptation. You agree with me, I hope, in attributing all his faults 
and his follies to the appetites and the passions, and to his connexion 
with an external and material world. Did a man desire to eat or 
drink only for the support of life, did he desire a connexion with 
his fellow creatures, only that he might serve them, without any 
self-seeking, how could he commit sin ! What sin could he commit 
against them 1 And knowing God, how could he fail to love him 1 
Would not then his whole existence, according to the measure of 
his intellectual faculties, be filled up with the efforts of an angelic 
nature to promote the virtue and happiness of mankind ! Jesus 
Christ was the only man who ever exhibited human nature to us 
in this aspect ; but his was by no means an exemption (as I have 
just imagined) from the power of the appetites which form the cha- 
racteristics of humanity. " He was tempted in all things, like as 
we are ;" but he possessed wisdom and goodness, without measure, 
to govern and direct the potent principles upon which his sympa- 
thies with man depended. He had a feeling for our infirmities, be- 
cause "he had been tempted in all things," even as we are tempted. 
There was no pulling down of the strong-holds of humanity to 
bring it within the power of a feeble conscience : but the high and 
holy warfare was between the strongest elements of human appe- 
tites and sympathies, and the divine power, wisdom and goodness ; 
and thence arose his great glory, so richly endowed with the re- 
demption of a world from sin and death, to glory, honor and immor- 
tality. In this solitary instance of the government of the life and 
actions of a man, by the principles of divinity, we have the perfect 
illustrations of our moral philosophy. This is what God created 
man to be ! We have also, in this instance, an evidence that it is 
possible that the passions and propensities of man should be so 
governed ; and, consequently, we should be thankful for being cre- 
ated just as we are, nor should we be willing to part with one prin- 
ciple or passion of our nature ; for, consider Christ in what light 
you may, you must confess that he was a perfect example of a mo- 
ral man. If, then, you deny his divinity, and believe him to be 



LECTURE XIV. 81 

merely a man, you thereby more entirely condemn yourself 
for not being his equal in the performance of your duty to 
God, and your fellow creatures, and in the attainment of moral 
virtue. If you believe him to be God, you are condemned ; for 
you have his assurance that, if you will follow him, that is, en- 
deavor to equal him, he will give you the same power by which he 
governed his human passions and propensities, and you shall be like 
him in this world, and a coheir with him in eternal glory. In ad- 
ducing the Savior as an illustration of moral philosophy, I do not 
mean you to understand me as teaching that he was merely a mor- 
tal, as we are, and operated upon by the Spirit, from instant to in- 
stant, as we are, when we are Christians. " God was in Christ, re- 
conciling the world unto himself" I mean, if human language may 
explain divine things, that when God sent his only Son into the 
world, it was, by uniting divinity to humanity, to exhibit (what he 
had from the beginning declared to be his will) that man should 
make divinity the standard of his imitation ; that he should emu- 
late God in his Christ, by a life of disinterested virtue, by the em- 
ployment of all the wisdom, power and goodness he is capable of 
exerting under the immediate inspiration of God, who promises 
to enable him to do all things, through his Spirit dwelling in him, 
if he will consent to be governed by him ; and will not permit him 
" to be tempted above that which he is able" to resist. 

The original revelation of the invisible " things, by things that 
were made," was one of knowledge, or mere perception and 
reflection. It fell upon the cold clear mirror of the human intellect, 
but seldom touched the affections of man. In a few rare and beau- 
tiful instances, men have appeared like splendid stars in the univer- 
sal darkness of the moral world, shining more by comparison with 
the depravity of mankind, than by any approximation to our divine 
Exemplar. That God gave moral philosophy before he gave 
Christianity to the world is a fact, as evident as that Socrates lived 
before the Christian era. Nor is moral philosophy to be confound- 
ed with any code of laws which has ever been recognized among 
men, nor even that of Moses ; for that was a code in a great mea- 
sure modified by expediency, being suited to the hardness of 
men's hearts. But moral philosophy is the science of reading in 
the great volume of nature the invisible things of God, which 
(whether man will or can read, or not,) " are plainly to be seen by 
the things that are made." The Scriptures teach us that this is a 
revelation of Christ, made to every man who comes into the world, 
" which was in the world, and the world knew him not ;" and by 
the assiduous cultivation of this knowledge there is " an honest and 
good heart" prepared for the highest operations of the grace of 
God, as the husbandman clears the stones, weeds, thorns, tares, 
&c, and prepares his field for the seed he wishes to cultivate. It 
was this state of preparation which made the centurion of Cae- 
sarea a fit subject for the operation of those means to which he 



82 POPULAR LECTURES. 

was directed by the Spirit of God, for the attainment of Christian 
perfection. 

If the original revelation was sufficient to make a "just and 
devout man of a Roman soldier," and if the Holy Scriptures have 
been given for our edification and instruction in righteousness, as 
a farther revelation of the same immutable principle of justice and 
devotion, in proportion as we make ourselves acquainted with the 
divine Author of nature, by a study of his works, we raise our 
own moral standard, and elevate our being, by new accessions of 
wisdom, power and goodness ; and, consequently, add more and 
more to the happiness of our fellow creatures, by the enlargement 
and increased activity of the principles of wisdom and benevolence 
within us, and consequently make ourselves fitter recipients for 
higher and holier influences, from the God of truth and purity, who 
reveals himself in the divine word of written revelation most per- 
fectly to the pure heart, and the enlightened mind. 



LECTURE XV. 



DUTY TO GOD, TO OURSELVES AND OUR FELLOW CREATURES. 

What shall I do to inherit eternal life ? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all 
thy mind ; and thy neighbor as thyself. — Luke, x., 25-7. 

Although conscience is determined to be the supreme arbiter of 
right and wrong, yet we have seen that conscience itself may be 
perverted. We have therefore to take every care to preserve it pure : 
and for this purpose we should, in conformity with St. Paul, mind the 
things that God has revealed of himself. If we had a book reputed 
to be of great merit, and some one should give us a very unfavor- 
able statement of its contents, we should be very wrong not to 
read the book itself, before we formed a judgment of it. How 
much, then, should we rather examine and meditate upon the 
works of God, and read for ourselves in them their Author's great 
wisdom, power and goodness. This is our first duty in life ; M for 
he who would come to God muster** believe that he is;" and that 
he is a " Hearer of prayer, and a Rewarder of those who diligently 
seek him." Our duties have all been summed up by our Savior in 
these words : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." 

Our duty to ourselves is fairly included under these two heads ; 
because, to do our duty to God and our fellow creatures, without 
any self-seeking, is the sure and certain way to secure our own 
felicity, not only in the next world, but in the present life. Since, 



LECTURE XIV. 83. 

to be divested of a selfish anxiety about ourselves is to be relieved 
from the excessive fears and desires which burthen the spirits of 
men; while the moderate and generous sympathy that a good 
person feels in the welfare of others is not incompatible with a 
state of serenity which becomes the virtuous man. And a study 
of the works and great attributes of the Deity, and an effort at 
conformity, produced by a pure love of his holy law, is a principle 
so calculated to ennoble the soul, and fill it with heavenly thoughts, 
that it must create the very highest state of mental enjoyment, 
such as may well be deemed a foretaste of heaven. If we may then 
conclude that our duties naturally divide themselves into duties to 
God, duties to ourselves, and duties to our fellow creatures, we 
shall place ourselves in a condition to fulfil, easily and perfectly, 
both the last, when we have accomplished the first. Let us consi- 
der what are our duties to God. We are, in the first place, to 
know him, as perfectly as a being such as man can know him ; 
and, secondly, we are to conform our thoughts, words, and deeds, 
as perfectly as possible, to that which we know of him. But we 
know that he has made darkness his pavilion, when the corrupt and 
idolatrous approach him, so that they cannot see him as he is ; but 
he appears to them " such a one as themselves," revengeful, wrath- 
ful and unforgiving ; but that he is quite a different Being to the pure 
in heart, as he says, " With the pure, I am pure ; with the froward, 
I am froward." Therefore we are to cultivate purity of heart, that 
we may have more worthy apprehensions of his divine nature; and 
yet, knowing that we are sinners in his eyes, " in whose sight the 
heavens are not pure" we should ever feel the deepest awe and re- 
verence, at the thought that we are always in his presence, and his 
all-seeing eye upon our most secret thoughts. 

We have all along maintained that, from the creation, men had 
been able clearly to see the eternal power and godhead of the Cre- 
ator ; and that therefore they were without excuse in not offering 
him a pure worship, such as becomes his great dignity and holi- 
ness, and their peculiar relations towards him. In the first place, 
he is revealed to us by creation as the Maker of all things, conse- 
quently, great in wisdom, power and goodness, beyond what it can 
belong to a created being to comprehend. Therefore, a rational 
creature is of necessity bound to consider with reverence that 
measure of his attributes which is exhibited to his understanding in 
his works ; but he is also bound to feel an unlimited reveren.ce for 
the evidence of those things which he cannot comprehend. He is 
declared to us in his works, not only to be wise, and good, and 
powerful, but also incomprehensible, eternal, infinite in his being. 
Under the apprehension of this revelation of his attributes, we are 
bound not only to worship him, but to give ourselves as the minis- 
ters of his divine will, to the extension of his glory to the minds of 
all his creatures who, like ourselves, have the natural capacity to 
perceive and reflect his glory, And since the gveat glory of God 



84 POPULAR LECTURES. 

is in the perfection and happiness of his creatures, whoever has the 
laiowledge of the true God, and does not make it known to others, 
but shuts up within himself such a glorious light, by which it was 
intended that men should be brought to glory and honor, and to 
offer acceptable praise to their Creator, can expect no less than that 
his own light should be turned to the darkness of despair, for ever 
and ever. All men are bound, then, as the first and most imperious 
duty of their existence, not only to acknowledge and honor the 
God of nature in their hearts, but to declare, to all the inhabitants 
of earth, that which they know of him. And they are equally 
bound to refrain from contradicting the declaration of then lips, by 
any folly or vice in their actions, which might seem to disprove 
that which they confess by then words. They are bound, by the 
same principles, to acknowledge him as their Lord and Master, 
their Governor and Preserver ; since he who first made them and 
all things has never given his glory to another, but continues 
still to preside over his own works ; nor can any rational being see 
any reason to doubt that God holds his soul in life, that it is by his 
divine permission he continues to exist from instant to instant. He 
neither knows how life comes into his being, what it is, nor how it 
leaves him. In all which he has a distinct evidence that God 
chooses to implant in him a perception that he reserves this to 
himself; nor will he permit us so much as to see it. Whence 
Moses and Paul were taught to exclaim : " He is thy life, and the 
length of thy days, he holds our souls in life." "In him we live, and 
move, and have our being." Thus knowing his divine attributes, 
and considering him as a fountain whence life is continually flow- 
ing into our being, we are to feel our entire dependence upon him, 
and to look to him, from instant to instaiit, for life, and breath, and 
all things. Consequently, we are both by our lives and conversa- 
tion to lead others to feel the same constant dependence upon him, 
and the same abiding sense, that if " he withdraw his spirit and 
his breath, all flesh shall perish together." Men are bound to ac- 
knowledge God as their Father, and to fulfil the duties of obedient 
children towards him. And who shall fill up this blessed and holy 
injunction ! Where shall we find any thing in creation to aid us 
in forming worthy and distinct apprehensions of the perfect tie 
which should bind us to a heavenly Father, whose own perfections 
and whose infinite love and goodness to us have been expressed in 
words and deeds, such as can only emanate from a divine Mind ? 
Shall we place before our thoughts that which an eloquent writer 
has called the chef-d'oeuvre of nature, a tender mother watching 
over, and cherishing, and providing for her helpless and dependent 
infant ; her heart rent with anguish when his feeble cries express 
to her his wants and griefs ; her soul beaming through her spark- 
ling eyes, when a smile expresses pleasure to her child ? And what 
is this, when compared with the infinite compassion of the perfect 
benevolence of the Being who poured this little tide of maternal 



LECTURE XV. 85 

love into the bosom of every parent to whom he has committed 
the infancy of his animated creatures. Sacred and precious bond 
of filial affection, which claims for the name of mother, the first, 
the strongest, and the most enduring claim of all the duties which 
man owes to creatures like himself; this is but one of the countless 
blessings by which our heavenly Father hath expressed his love 
towards us. How then ought we to love him ? If gratitude de- 
mands that the frame, which the mother has nourished with her 
milk, should sustain her feeble age ; that the mind she has inform- 
ed and educated, the soul she has instructed in duty, should reflect 
back upon her in after life, the honor and respect conferred by 
men upon the wise and virtuous ; then, do not gratitude, and filial 
love, and obedience, rush with an ample tide into the soul to which 
God has laid claim as a tender Father ] I am now speaking to you, 
my dear young friends,, of the obligations of nature, of your 
duties to the God from whom you derived your being, and who is 
consequently as a Father to you ; of the Father who has provided 
for all your wants, mental and corporeal, so wisely and so benefi- 
cently. I have not even alluded to the wonders of redeeming love, 
because I would, if possible, enhance that glorious subject in your 
eyes, by showing how deeply you are debtors by creation. How, 
I would remind you, perfect and just have all along been the claims 
of your heavenly Father upon the love, and reverence, and obedi- 
ence of his creatures ; of every being who could cease long enough 
from folly and sin to contemplate his own being, and that wonder- 
ful and connected system of mercies by which the God of nature 
.has created and preserves our glorious and perishable bodies — so 
" fearfully and wonderfully made." And I would place before you 
the yet more mysteriously grand creation of souls, which (Phoe- 
nix-like,) are to arise from the ashes of these, our mortal bodies, to 
enter upon an immortal state for which God has made us con- 
scions, even here, that this life is but a state of preparation. If 
we have determined that we are bound to love, and venerate, and 
obey our heavenly Father, on account of the great benefits we 
have received from him in creation, and the provisions of his gene- 
ral providence, it should create no doubt in our minds if we are 
told that the lines of parental care and government have been 
stretched out according to the expansion of our wants, from age to 
age, as we find they are from birth to death. Feeble as infancy is 
the dawning of that spirit, born of our souls through the influence 
of God's Spirit, communicated through our external relations to 
him and to his creatures, and engrossed as we are, by the visible 
media through which his eternal truths are naturally revealed, no 
wonder if our captivated senses pre-occupy the mind which should 
be filled with the evidences of their Maker's glory. Such is the 
imbecility of man, produced by the government of the senses, that 
he admires the creature more than the Creator ; and, in conformi- 

8 



86 POPULAR LECTURES. 

ty with this principle, it is not to be wondered at, if we find that 
our heavenly Father, whose mercy is infinite, pities our weakness, 
and provides a remedy for the evils which it produces. Man, sur- 
rounded by the perfect and innumerable evidences of a Creator, 
has abandoned his pure worship, and offers himself, and teaches 
his children to offer divine honors to a creature like himself. Thus 
is his foolish heart darkened ; and it becomes necessary that God 
should again reveal his attributes, again assert his authority as our 
God and Father. He gives man a written revelation, containing 
not only the same views of his immutable attributes which had 
been made known in creation ; but he makes a further display of 
them than it is possible for the unaided nature of man to receive ; 
and, therefore, from the infinite source of his goodness, he adds a 
grace to the recipient nature. Whoever, therefore, will seek their 
own good, may be certain that it cannot be found, but in obedi- 
ence to the God of heaven and earth, who is equally the God of 
nature and revelation. And since the experience of mankind is. 
that the glorious revelation of his attributes in creation has, al- 
though the same with the Christian law, never been sufficient to 
stem the corruptions of human nature, we, who perceive that the 
same God is revealed in the Scriptures, should feel the deepest 
reverence, and most perfect gratitude to him, that instead of leav- 
ing the world in idolatrous darkness, he has, in so wonderful a dis- 
pensation as that of Christianity, called all men to repentance, and 
permitted them once more to renew with their Maker the violated 
relations of filial love and duty, and that he has, to encourage them 
to pursue their own good, and that of their fellow creatures, made 
known to them the mystery of an eternal world, as the ultimate 
attainment of their redeemed nature. 

This, then, is the moral philosophy of a Christian people. The 
eternal truth of the God who knows no variableness nor shadow 
of turning, made known in creation, confirmed by miracles, and 
now fulfilled by Jesus Christ ; first, in his own person, and second- 
ly, by his Spirit in every creature who seeks that Spirit by prayer, 
" hears the word of God, and does it." The text-book is the Gos- 
pel ; and the criterion, the example of him who is God over all, 
blessed for ever. 

1. What is the supreme arbiter of right and wrong? 2. Why cannot it be 
safely relied on ? 3. How shall we keep it pure ? 4. Where do we read the 
great power, wisdom and goodness of God? 5. What must we first believe, 
and who says so? 6. What is our Savior's summary of duty? 7. How is our 
duty to ourselves included in these? 8. How is this effect produced? 9. How 
shall we place ourselves in a condition to fulfil periectly our duties to neigh- 
bors and ourselves? 10. What is our first duty to God ? 11. What is our se- 
cond? 12. What difference is there in the views of God of the righteous aud 
unrighteous? 13. How then shall we have more worthy ideas? 14. How 
should we feel with regard to being always in his presence? 15. Why are 
men inexcusable for not offering a worthy offering of devotion to God ? 16. 



LECTURE XVI. 87 

LECTURE XVI. 

BELIEF IN THE SCRIPTURES. 

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. — 2 Tim., iii., 16. 

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS t 

Scarcely any fact is better established than the proposition that 
attention is a voluntary act of the mind ; perception, or the first 
impression of external things, is involuntary, but the continued or 
repeated perception is voluntary. Ingenuity has discoursed much, 
and it has been said, unanswerably, to show that all our actions 
are governed by motives ; and, therefore, that we cannot but act 
under the control of those outward circumstances by which we are 
surrounded, since in these our motives are found. Were all out- 
ward circumstances of one character, or had we no power to with- 
draw our attention from some and fix it upon others, we should 
indeed be the fated instruments of a blind necessity. Attention, 
however, or a continued series of the same acts of perception re- 
peated, is, according to universal experience, voluntary. Attention 
then becomes, in the highest degree, moral or immoral, as we use 
it to establish the influence of virtue or vice, piety or impiety, over 
our minds and affections. The person who will increase the influ- 
ence of the animal propensities, by surrounding himself with those 
things which stimulate them, who will permit his eyes to dwell 
upon the fascinating charms of a licentious painting, or taste the 
food or drink which he should avoid, voluntarily strengthens prin- 

Wby are we bound to worship him as a Being of infinite power, wisdom and 
goodness ? 17. What other attributes do his works reveal to us ? 18. "What 
then are we bound to do? 19. What may be said of those who do not endea- 
vor to teach others to worship the true God ? 20. What are all men bound 
to ? 21. What else are they bound to? 22. Has God ever given his glory to 
another? 23. Who holds our souls in life? 24. Do we know how we live ? 
25. What does this prove ? 26. What does Moses say ? 27. How are we to 
consider our life? 28. What effect should this produce ? 29. If God not only 
gave us being, but sustains our life, how should we view him ? 30. What has 
been called a chef-d'ceuvre of nature ? 31. If we owe our first duty to a mo- 
ther, what do we owe to him who gave a mother to every living creature ? 
32. What does gratitude demand of a child for its mother ? 33. What claim 
of relationship to us has God preferred ? 34. What obligations are we speak- 
ing of? 35. What have we purposely avoided? 36. Why? 37. Of what 
has God made us conscious ? 38. What should we be prepared to learn from 
observing the great goodness of God in our creation? 39. What is the first 
state of the creature who is born again of the Spirit ? 40. How do we become 
sensual, and what is the effect? 41. What does this render necessary? 42. 
How does he do it? 43. What does this revelation contain? 44. What does 
his goodness add ? 45. Where must we seek our own good ? 46. What is this 
moral philosophy of a Christian people ? 47. What is its text book, and what 
its criterion ? 



88 POPULAR LECTURE9. 

ciples which, in the end, he may not be able to resist. Attention, 
then, appears to be the real foundation of all moral principle, and 
the only perfectly voluntary exercise of the mind. It is upon this 
ground that belief becomes a moral obligation. We are con- 
demned, not for rejecting the insufficient evidence which is before 
us, but for not bestowing proper attention upon those propositions 
to which faith directs us, that would be convincing, if once under- 
stood. If the God of the Scriptures and the God of nature are one 
God, certainly our confidence in the divine authority of Holy Writ 
should be so firm as to produce in us a perfect obedience to its in- 
junctions, and confidence in its promises. For if he who im- 
planted the principles of morality has superadded the revelation of 
the Old and New Testaments, one must be equally obligatory with 
the other ; or, if any difference exists, the latter must the more 
deeply concern us, as when a legislature enacts some new law, it 
supersedes all previous regulations on the same subject. 

Very admirable treatises have been written by learned, good and 
great men, to assist us in settling firmly the foundations of our 
faith ; and the various views which they have taken of the subject 
have led to a beautiful variety, and ingenuity, as well as great 
amplitude, in the body of evidences for the truth of revealed reli- 
gion ; so that the man who rests in unbelief, without having exa- 
mined thoroughly their writings, must be condemned for inattention 
to the interests of religion. 

As the limits of a short, lecture preclude my entering into an 
examination of the evidences, I will confine myself to giving j r ou 
advice as to a course of study, such as the subject deserves from 
all, and imperiously demands from those who are exposed to the 
contagion of infidelity, which prevails throughout the educated 
ranks of society, in every part of the world. The first, and all- 
essential preparation for the study of revealed religion is, to pro- 
vide yourselves with "a Bible, and good concordance, a sound 
head, and an honest heart," with which, according to Bishop Hors- 
ley, you cannot go far astray from the truth. But let the com- 
mencement of a course of theological study be with the elements 
of natural religion ; since, according to St. Paul, he that would 
come to God, must first believe that he is ; and, for this, his mind 
must be well informed as to the being and attributes of the Deity. 
Clarke on the Attributes, Paley's Treatise on Natural Theol 
and Cudworth on the Nature and Immutability of Truth, (a very 
rare, and precious old volume,) give the clearest views of the divine 
attributes ; and these bring us to that part of the subject which is 
taken up by Bishop Butler, in his Analogy of Natural and Revealed 
Religion. This most noble argument is intended to prove only the 
probability of the written revelation, by its conformity to what we 
know of God without it. 

We find what are called positive evidences divided into two dis- 



LECTURE XVI. 



89 



tinct classes, external and internal. Internal evidences are such as 
are derived from the character of the Scriptures themselves ; exter- 
nal are such as miracles, historical corroborations, fulfilment of 
prophecy. Soame Jennings, in his Internal Evidences, has very 
strikingly pointed out the contrast of Christian virtue with the 
heathen virtues of the age in which Christianity arose; and I 
would strongly recommend his "View" to the careful perusal of 
those especially who, educated in classical schools, have imbibed 
their sentiments of virtue and honor from the study of the ancient 
classics. Upon the subject of internal evidence, those who are 
fond of abstract reasoning will find a treat in Erskine's Internal 
Evidences. Bishop Sherlock's exquisite tract, called "A Trial of 
the Witnesses for the Resurrection," may be ranked as one of the 
finest specimens of human reasoning. 

But the point which I wish especially to enforce upon you at pre- 
sent is, the duty of investigation; and, as I attribute great utility 
to examples, I will cite for your consideration that of two cele- 
brated men who, by having had a strong sense of this duty, have 
themselves been enabled thereby to add invaluable testimony to 
that body of evidence to which I would direct you. Lord Lyttle- 
ton and his cousin, Mr. Gilbert West, were educated together in 
devoted friendship ; Jxit under the unfortunate influence of an infi- 
del they were infidels, but candid, honorable, amiable, and very 
highly accomplished young men. Finding that many great and 
good men had given their testimony in favor of Christianity, they 
agreed that it was a very absurb negligence for a man not to grant 
so much as a fair examination to that of which it was so important 
that he should know the truth: For certainly, they said, should 
we be remiss in examining fully the evidence within our reach, and 
after death find that indeed it was our own faults that we were not 
convinced, and that in consequence of our criminal neglect of duty 
we should lose the felicity of a never-ending life, it would not then 
afford us any consolation that we had early had our minds closed 
against the truth which others had diligently sought ; since good 
men have ever thought they could lose nothing by seeking to know 
more of God, and might incur his eternal displeasure by neglecting 
to do so. Having occasion to separate for some years, they parted 
with an agreement to read the Scriptures carefully, and judge them 
fairly ; promising to communicate to each other the result of their 
researches, when they again met. When they did so, they had 
both been convinced; but it had been by different parts of the 
New Testament; and, both being exceedingly pleased with the 
views of the other, they agreed to write out and publish, for the 
aid of other doubters, the reflections by which they had been satis- 
fied. Mr. West had found sufficient evidence in a comparison of 
the different statements of the evangelists with regard to the resur- 
rection of Christ ; Lord Lyttleton had passed by this subject, and 

8* 



90 POPULAR LECTURES. 

resisted conviction, until he came to the conversion of St. Patrf ;- 
and then, considering the character of St. Paul, and the miraculous 
circumstance by which he was changed from the bitterest enemy 
into the most zealous, all-enduring, judicious and eloquent advocate 
of the detested cause, he felt that this evidence was to him irresisti- 
ble. He therefore published a small volume on the Conversion and 
Apostleship of Paul, which, in conjunction with West on the Resur- 
rection, has been widely circulated wherever the English language 
is understood; and these tracts are equally honorable to the talents, 
good sense, and candor of their authors* Mr. Locke gives a simi- 
lar account of the origin of his work on the Reasonableness of 
Christianity. He was, he says, in the condition of most men of 
business ; while the religious were disputing about various tenets, 
and one said on this wise, and one on that wise, he said nothing, 
and thought nothing, until it occurred to him, if there is a right 
and wrong about religious matters, as there must be, from the dif- 
ference of men upon the subject, certainly it cannot be indifferent, 
whether we think right or wrong about that which may probably 
determine our eternal destiny ; and, like a wise man, when he con- 
sidered this, he determined not to rest until he knew by examina- 
tion what it was reasonable to believe. He examined with candor 
the Scriptures, beginning at the beginning and going entirely 
through them, with his usual integrity ; and so became thoroughly 
versed in the doctrines of life, and lived and died in the faith of 
the Son of God ; affording a remarkable exemplification by his 
learning, good sense, integrity, and simplicity of manners, of the 
wisdom of the serpent combined with the harmlessness of the dove. 
Let us hear what this great philosopher says of the word of God 
to a young man who asked his advice about the study of religion : 
" Study the Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testament : therein 
are contained the words of eternal life. It has God for its Author, 
salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for 
its matter." 

To conclude my remarks upon the duty of studying the Scrip- 
tures, that you may be fully possessed of their internal evidences. 
I will here quote the opinion of the paragon of intellect in modern 
times— Sir William Jones "The collection of tracts," says he. 
" which we call, from their excellence, the Scriptures, contain, inde- 
pendently of a divine origin, more true sublimity, more exquisite 
beauty, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains 
of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected within the same 
compass, from all the other books that were ever composed in any 
age, or in any idiom.. The two parts of which the Scriptures 
consist are connected by a chain of compositions which bear no 
resemblance in form or style to any that can be produced from the 
stores of Grecian, Indian, Persian, or even Arabian learning ; the 
antiquity of those compositions no man doubts, and the unstrained 



LECTURE XVI. 91 

application of them to events, long subsequent to their publication, 
is a solid ground of belief that they were genuine predictions, and 
consequently inspired" 

One of the most valuable works which has been written in de- 
fence of Christianity is Bishop Watson's reply to a very indecent, 
scurrilous, but talented attack upon the Scriptures, called the Age 
of Reason, by T. Paine, Watson's book, modestly styled "An 
Apology for the Bible," would, I am persuaded, be sufficient to sa- 
tisfy the doubt of every candid and generous young person, were 
there not something flattering to human vanity in the idea of being 
bold, independent and intelligent enough to improve upon the wis- 
dom and knowledge of our predecessors. To cast off the leading 
strings of the mind is the fir^t strong impulse of boyhood ; and to 
wear the wreath of manhood is its darling aspiration, whether it 
be for controlling a fiery horse without being thrown, smoking a 
cigar, or drinking a glass of brandy, without betraying a symptom 
of qualmishness, or setting at naught the book of God's wisdom. 
This spirit is but the incipient stage of that energetic principle 
which has scattered the night of human ignorance, and poured a 
flood of science upon the modern world ; the pity is, that it is not 
better directed, and that boys are not made to understand that it is 
more honorable to excel in useful knowledge, and to attain the toil- 
some heights of scientific eminence, than to flash the dazzling 
shield of a vain and superficial wit, before the benighted judgments 
of men weaker or more ignorant than themselves. But the most 
striking critique upon the works of Paine and Watson is a contrast 
of the effects of their respective opinions upon their lives and 
deaths. The Bishop of Landaff, respected and admired during his 
life, has left behind him an enviable fame ; while the unhappy Paine 
lived in degrading vices, and died a loathsome victim to them. 
His habits were vicious and his manners vulgar ; the effect of his 
talents being obscured by his rudeness and personal conceit, which 
was insufferably great. Dining one day in New York, in a com- 
pany of gentlemen, where the celebrated wit, Gen. Charles Lee, 
was present, Paine remarked, with a consequential air, " I am the 
most independent man in the world :" to which General Lee, (him- 
self a deist,) disgusted with his vulgar egotism, replied, " No won- 
der, sir, you are the most independent man, since you have nothing 
to depend upon." This anecdote was related to me, by a gentle- 
man who was with General Lee, as a specimen of Paine's manners ; 
and I heard a man, celebrated as an infidel, confess that he went, 
from respect for his talents, to visit him on his death bed ; but he 
said he was so loathsome from the effect of intemperance, that it 
was too disgusting to be near him. The witty ribaldry of Vol- 
taire has brought forth a volume entitled " Letters of certain learn- 
ed Jews to Voltaire," which should invest the sceptic with the 
thanks of every Christian who desires to possess the solution of 



92 POPULAR LECTURES. 

many difficulties in studying the Old Testament, that are certainly 
only to be removed by a degree of learning and erudition, such as 
is rarely to be met with, and never but among a class of men 
wholly devoted to such researches. The difficulties have generally 
arisen from a change of manners and customs which has taken 
place since the Scriptures were written. These learned Jews excel 
Voltaire as much in that light raillery upon which he depended, as 
they do in solidity of reasoning and accuracy of information ; in 
both of which they prove him to have been ridiculously deficient. 
To Hume's celebrated Essay on Miracles, I would recommend 
Brown's, on Cause and Effect, as a reply ; and Campbell on Mira- 
cles is a very satisfactory argument. 

But let me persuade you, my your^g friends, to pursue this sim- 
ple, and yet wise course. Consider now, early in life, that innu- 
merable great and good, and very learned men have examined the 
Bible, and been convinced it was the word of God. Then take it 
up, with reverence, for you do not know that it is not ; and, if it is, 
I need not say how you ought to revere it. Study it, as if it was 
" what it professed to be." If you find any insuperable difficulties — 
if, for instance, you stumble at the miracles of Moses, lay them on 
one side ; make up no opinion about them ; say to yourselves, at 
all events, this was a noble enterprise : to take a nation of op- 
pressed slaves out of the hands of a great monarch, as was Pha- 
raoh ; and Moses must have been a great, a very benevolent, and 
a very brave man — very worthy, one would think, of being be- 
lieved. Go on, then, and see what else does he profess to have 
done. He gave them laws ; what horrid, obscure things, I have 
heard a flippant talker say, are these laws : the book is not fit to be 
read! Pardon me! — what a horrid, obscure country Was that, out 
of which this good man was carrying his people, that he should 
have thus to charge them against such customs* The law, even in 
the bosom of such gross darkness, is holy, just and free, and very 
pure. When you have read the whole Bible through, comparing 
with a concordance one part with another, until you know its con- 
tents well, commence again with Home on the Study of the Holy 
Scriptures, Prideaux's Connections, Calmet's Dictionary, Home on 
the Psalms, Lowth on Isaiah, and a Bible with notes, perhaps 
Clarke's may be most unexceptionable, and Barnes' Notes on the 
Gospels, Act's and Epistles, with Mr. Locke's Com. on Paul's Epis- 
tles. Such a course of study as you may pursue with these aids 
will certainly better enable you to judge the Scriptures ; but it is 
probable that if you have had industry, perseverance, and a desire 
to do your duty, sufficient to carry you through such a course of 
examination as I have here indicated, you will, by this time, feel so 
hearty and warm an interest in convincing others of the truth, that 
you will have espoused the cause as your own ; and will address 
yourselves to men, with the confidence of Peter, when he asserts. 



LECTURE XVI. 93 

that they " knew these things." Then you may strengthen your 
own hands greatly by reading Chalmers, Paley, Sumner, Keith on 
the Prophecies, not to neglect our own Alexander, and the delight- 
ful volume of lectures written originally for a class of young men, 
by our eloquent Bishop M'llvaine, which is eminently suited to be 
introduced as a class book in our schools. 

And now, I would conclude this very inadequate notice of a 
deeply important subject, by once more referring to the true ground 
of moral responsibility : attention to the subject. It matters little, 
although you should persuade yourselves that you are not to blame, 
if you, by unbelief, counteract the designs of mercy in your favor. 
Every examination to which the sacred writings has been subject- 
ed has added to their credibility; and he who rejects them, does 
so, not because they are unworthy of belief, but because he has 
not sufficiently investigated their claims to his confidence. Surely 
he who will not give himself the trouble to do so, deserves to lose 
his portion in the inheritance bestowed by them upon the believer. 
Do not, I intreat you, take up the trite and flippant dispute, whether 
it is right to threaten with the loss of eternal life, disbelief in a 
book ; nor contend, that belief is not a voluntary act of the mind. 
If Jesus Christ is appointed to prepare you for a blessed state in 
heaven, by working certain changes in your moral nature by his 
influence over you, and you refuse to listen to him or believe him, 
how shall he do it? If God (as our Scriptures assure us) has 
ordained a state of happiness to suit those who have been prepared 
for it by the regenerating influence of his word, this state will 
suit none but those, and cannot be given to any other ; and this 
our Savior especially declares, when, in reply to the indiscreet re- 
quest for a place on his right hand and on his left, he says, "It 
must be given to those for whom it is prepared of my Father." 
You would not submit to the preparation ; you would not believe 
him, whom he sent confirming his mission with evidences which 
have been sufficient for thousands who saw him, and thousands 
who have since studied his history closely, and heard all the objec- 
tions to it, and still believed. Will you say, they were credulous 
fools who were imposed upon? Yet, such credulous fools God 
evidently loves. Their simple faith fills them here with joy and 
hope, and love and peace; and, consequently, it is like every other 
provision of the good providence of God, it is the proper food of 
their souls, as much as meat, and bread, and vegetables are the pro- 
per food of their bodies ; and what is your scornful wisdom good 
fori To make you eat the husks that the swine are fed with; 
while there is meat enough in your father's house, which your 
brethren are enjoying, and you cast out. Is theirs ignorance, and 
yours wisdom ? Then, 

Where ignorance is bliss, 
'Tis folly to be wise, 



94 POPULAR LECTURES. 

The evidences may be classed as follows : 

First. Evidences from the character of the religion itself, called 
internal evidences, as its unlikeness to every other religion, both as 
to means and motives. 

Second. From the character of its founder, being too pure, wise, 
elevated, and altogether perfect, to authorize the suspicion that he 
was either a fanatic or impostor. 

Third. From the fulfilment of the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment, especially those with regard to the remarkable character, 
life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God, contained in Psalms, 
Daniel, Job, and especially Isaiah; as that which converted the 
celebrated Earl of Rochester, beginning, " Who hath believed our 
report." Of the interpretations attempted to be put upon this by 
the Jews, Paley acutely remarks, if the person supposed to mean 
Christ, meant the Jewish nation, (as they say,) who then are indi- 
cated by the words "we," "us," and "oursl" "He was bruised 
for our sins, and the iniquity of us all was laid upon him. He 
poured out his life unto death." 

Fourth. From the fulfilment of our Savior's own remarkable 
prophecies with regard to the destruction of the temple, and the 
extension of his church. Of the first, how absurd it must have 
seemed, to hear him giving them instructions as to what they were 
to do, when that vast and beautiful edifice should be thrown down, 
so that one stone should not be left upon another. How wonder- 
ful its fulfilment ; and how wonderful the failure of the Emperor 
Julian to rebuild it ! The prophecies of our Savior, with regard 
to the establishment, have been perfectly fulfilled ; and yet, they 
have these remarkable contradictions in them. First, he said, they 
should be scattered by his death, and should deny him, (especially 
Peter,) and yet, he openly foretold the bold fervor and enduring 
constancy with which they should go unto all the earth, and being 
beaten, and evil entreated in one city, should flee into another, to 
spread the truth for which he had died. He prophesied that his 
kingdom should extend like the light, from the one side of the hea- 
vens to the other; and yet, with this general diffusion of know- 
ledge, the decay of personal religion was fairly indicated in these 
remarkable words : " Nevertheless, when the son of man cometh, 
shall he find faith upon the earth !" What a question ! Every man 
shall know that Christ has come in the flesh, and yet, who will re- 
ceive him into his heart, to rule there in all the uncompromising 
purity of his doctrine ; who will submit to be governed by his 
law ! And who, I pray you, except a missionary here and there, 
gives this evidence of their faith, while Christian churches point 
their spires to heaven in every land ! 

Fifth. From the present condition of the Jewish nation, which 
is a standing miracle, and will continue so, until they are brought 
to perceive that Christ alone can be their Messiah. 



LECTURE XVI. 95 

Sixth. From the corroborations of profane writers of the mate- 
rial historical facts, incidentally introduced by the apostles ; for in- 
stance, the eclipse at the time of the crucifixion is described by 
Phlagon, a Roman astronomer, who says there was the greatest 
eclipse in that year that ever was ; it was so dark that the stars ap- 
peared. Paley has collected many very remarkable coincidences, 
which put the authenticity of the Scriptures of the New Testament 
beyond doubt ; for instance, Acts xxiii., 4., St. Paul says, " I wist 
not, brethren, that he was the high priest," and here the historian 
of the Acts adds no more. When we read the Acts, we cannot but 
wonder that St. Paul should say he did not know it was the high 
priest, before whom he stood to be judged; and this difficulty, 
from the very simplicity of the narration, would have always con- 
tinued, but that the historian of the Roman war, Josephus, men- 
tions that this man was not indeed high priest, for he had been 
deposed from that office for bad conduct ; but his successor had 
died, and during the interregnum, he had again thrust himself into 
office. See Paley's Evidences, par. 22, chap. 6. 

Seventh. From the strength of talent, ingenuity, perseverance, 
and active hostility of the enemies of the Gospel, from the time of 
our Lord, for now 1800 years, having left the foundations of the 
faith of the Gospels not only unimpaired, but stronger than ever, 
there is sufficient evidence to convince any unprejudiced mind of 
its truth. 

I will close this imperfect sketch of a noble subject, of vital im- 
portance to every human being who will be amenable to the judg- 
ment of Christ hereafter, with this impressive question, in the 
words of St. Paul, " Seeing these things, what manner of persons 
ought we to be, in all holy conversation and godliness ?" Or, in the 
more common phraseology of the world, since we have such ample 
testimony to show that God has thought fit to appoint such means 
to" work a moral renovation in our being, ought we not earnestly, 
diligently, and thankfully to use them] 

1. What should we be if we had no power to control our attention ? 2. 
When does attention become moral and immoral ? 3. Illustrate this ? 4. Upon 
what ground is belief a moral obligation ? 5. Why may we be condemned for 
rejecting what we consider as insufficient evidence ? 6. Why ought we to re- 
spect revealed more than natural law ? 7. Is there much evidence for the truth 
of religion? 8. What is the first preparation for the study of religion ? 9. 
What do we commence with ? 10. What are the first works to be studied ? 
11. What next? 12. How are evidences divided? 13. How does Soame Jen- 
nings prove the truth of Scripture ? 14. What is Sherlock's tract called? 15. 
What is said of Lord Lyttleton and Mr. West ? 16. How came they to be in- 
fidels ? 17. What convinced Mr. West ? 18. What convinced Lord Lyttleton ? 
19. What does Mr. Locke say of himself? 20. What was his advice to a 
young man ? 21. What says Sir William Jones ? 22. What is said of Bishop 
Watson's Apology for the Bible ? 23. What is said of Thomas Paine the infi- 
del? 24. What is said of letters of certain learned Jews? 25. What is an 
answer to Hume on Miracles ? 26. What course is recommended ? 27. What 



96 POPULAR LECTURES, 

LECTURE XVH. 

TRUST IN GOD, OR BELIEF IN HIS PROMISES. 

We trust in the living G-od. — 1 Timothy, iv., 10. 

To draw a distinction between belief in God, which was the sub- 
ject of our last lecture, and trust in him, may seem, at first, to be 
too subtle a discrimination ; but a general faith in God, and a prac- 
tical application of the principle of faith, enabling us to take to our- 
selves his promises, are very essentially different ; and the difference 
is finely expressed by St. Paul, in his two definitions of faith. "Faith 
is the evidence of things not seen." This is belie/ in the evidence 
for the word of God. " Faith is the substance of things hoped for." 
This last is the subject of our present investigation ; and the prac- 
tice, of it, the duty which I would urge upon you at present, as 
trust in God. We may believe in the truth of the revelation, and 
never conform to one of its precepts through submission to its au- 
thority. Lord Byron said, even he believed in that sense. In fact 
the wonder is, that there should still be found any man of informa- 
tion and good intellect who would profess to contemn that splendid 
bulwark which the learning and industry of the church have cast 
up around our religion, in the form of evidences, internal and exter- 
nal, to which I have already directed your attention ; and in study- 
ing which I have often exclaimed, in admiration, with David: 
"Walk about Zion, mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her 
palaces." Is it not glorious to look into the sanctuary, and con- 
template the saints living in holy communion with God ! Is it not 
wonderful to see by what noble outworks their industry has de- 
fended our church against her enemies, and maintained unimpaired 
her strong-holds, for now more than eighteen centuries? Such consi- 
derations should convince the judgment, but none but a heart devoted 
to God, and keeping his commandments, can have the faith which 
is called "the substance of things hoped for." Who hopes for that 
which he casts from him 1 Who desires, and yet repudiates the 
joys promised to the believer ! Who sins knowingly against God, 
and at the same time hopes to meet with a reward for obedience ! 
God has promised heaven to those who love the Lord their God 
with all their hearts, and their neighbor as themselves. The man, 
then, who does not keep these commandments, has not the same 
substance of things hoped for, with the man who keeps them. He 

objections are answered by Leslie ? 28. What has been said of the laws, and 
what is the reply ? 29. On a second reading of the Bible what aid should we 
have? 30. What evidences are recommended ? 31. What is the effect of ex- 
amination ? 32. Why is it necessary to believe the Bible ? 33. Recite the 
seven classes of evidences ? 34. What is the concluding reflection ? 



LECTURE XVII. 97 

may have a spurious hope, the hope (built on air) of the fanatics ; 
but his ideas of heaven will be substantially as different from those 
of the true believer, as his ideas of God and duty. The fanatic 
seeks heaven as Simon Magus did : he thinks he may purchase it, 
if not with money, with something equally worthless, with certain 
rites, or with fire and sword ; with a sacrifice of reason and con- 
science to superstition and bigotry ; and it is reasonable to con- 
clude that the substance of that heaven which he hopes for, is as 
essentially different from the substance of that heaven which is pro- 
mised to the true believer, as brazen candlesticks and the blood of 
goats are from the worship in spirit and truth, which God will have 
offered to him. The difference between the two kinds of faith we 
have spoken of is illustrated by the prayer of the poor man, who 
felt that he had one, but needed the other : " I believe, Lord, help 
thou my unbelief;" and it is a state of mind which seems naturally 
to arise from a due sense of our great demerits, without that per- 
fect perception of the infinite mercy of God, which enables us to 
see how the promises, in spite of our utter unworthiness, may be 
yet extended to us ; how God may forego judgment, and consider 
only our good ; and so, not weighing our offences, receive us, the 
moment ive are willing, into his everlasting covenant, and extend its 
blessed promises to our souls. We are provided with ample means 
to attain to this living faith, which, indeed, must be the highest in- 
citement, to virtue. It must be acquired by much secret, soul-puri- 
fying meditation, and earnest supplications to the Fountain of truth, 
for more elevated and clear views of his divine perfections. We 
must reflect, much and often, upon the long series of providences 
by which he has brought the mind of man out of darkness into 
marvellous light. And seeing that this light is now scattering its 
glorious beams from east to west, " from the rising of the sun to 
the going down thereof," we must, by minding these things, bring 
ourselves under their influence ; learn from them to love the Author 
of such blessings ; and, considering his jealous love for our souls, 
we must seek him as our supreme good. By doing so we are more 
and more excited to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Our 
gratifications keep pace with our desires, until we are filled with 
such ■ a longing after heavenly things, that we disdain " the beg- 
garly elements" of worldly pleasures. God's spiritual operations, so 
far as we know them, are always effected by means. He instils a 
holy confidence in his mercy and truth ; but it is in proportion to 
our active obedience to his commandments : as when Naaman was 
told to wash in Jordan, he had previously some imperfect principle 
of faith, by which he was enabled to believe that the prophet, per- 
haps with prayers, and sacrifices, and ostentatious rites, might suc- 
cessfully invoke the power of God. In obedience to this, he took 
his journey ; but this act of faith had but brought him within the 
reach of farther means. Called upon by the prophet for a yet far- 

9 



98 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



ther exercise of faith, " Go wash in the waters of Jordan" — he had 
not prepared his mind for this requisition ; he rebelled against a 
command of which he could not see the efficacy. Had he conti- 
nued to refuse the subjection of his reason to faith, he would have 
gone home as he came, a leper ; but faith, again exercised, brought 
forth at last a full assurance of the truth of God's promises. As he 
could see no connexion between his washing in Jordan and the 
healing of his leprosy, so we, when we desire to know of the truth, 
are commanded first to do of the works, and, as in the reward of 
Naaman's first act of imperfect faith, its exercise brought with it a 
higher conviction of the truth ; a conviction that since there was 
no natural efficacy in the waters of Jordan, God had, in an especial 
manner, healed him, as a testimony to the truth of the prophet, and 
so prepared his mind to acknowledge the true God, and abjure his 
belief in idols. Thus we, as a reward of that confidence in God, 
implied by every positive act of obedience, receive stronger and 
stronger evidences of the truth cf God's promises ; and come at 
last to a full assurance of faith, which is the same, for all practical 
purposes, as the certainty of vision. To have this faith, we must 
have the foundation of clear apprehensions of the attributes of God. 
First we must comprehend perfectly the immutability of his truth, 
that we may be certain his will can never change. We must un- 
derstand that, like the sun he has placed in our heavens, he only ap- 
pears to change because we change our relation to him. We roll 
away from the light of day, and we say the sun has gone, and 
turned our day into night. So, when we depart from God, we con- 
clude that, from having been a God of love, he has become a wrath- 
ful Being. Not so — he is still extending the radiant smiles of his 
love to those who look towards him. His attributes are unchange- 
able — he never smiled on sin ; sin is indeed the night of the soul, 
produced by absence of the Sun of righteousness, not from the 
heaven around us, but from the darkened orbs of our own spiritual 
vision. " The light that is in us is darkness" — unlike the physical 
world, which is whirled irresistibly away from the cheering light of 
day, we shroud ourselves in the coverts of darkness ; " the Stygian 
caves forlorn," where sin delights to lurk unseen. By a firm confi- 
dence in the immutability of his goodness, we are persuaded that 
he would not leave his creatures to roam in the darkness of conjec- 
ture, in which the whole world has at one time been involved, by 
departing from the original light ; but that he would rectify their 
opinions of moral duty, and encourage them to its practice, by a 
fuller revelation of himself By such a belief in his infinite good- 
ness, we are prepared to receive such a revelation as is made to us 
in the Scriptures. By faith in his wisdom and power we are con- 
vinced that he can and will make all things work together for good, 
to those who love him ; and that, since to love him is to love virtue, 
all things must work for good to those who love virtue. Imbued 



LECTURE XVII. 



99 



with this invigorating principle of trust in God, we grow strong in 
the Lord, and live by the faith of his Son in our hearts. " What, 
(as St. Paul exclaims with exultation,) shall overcome this faith 1 
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked- 
ness, or peril, or sword] Nay, in all these things we are more 
than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded 
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor 
any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This, my children, is that faith 
which is the substance of things hoped for; that is, of a hope 
which so realizes the substance of its glorious aspirations as to 
have a present enjoyment of them, which nothing can deprive it of. 
If we have this in us, which was the faith of the apostles, we shall 
find the blessed fruit of it in the ardor with which we shall devote 
ourselves to every duty to which it calls us. We shall be able to 
leave father, and mother, and brother, and sister, and lands, and 
houses, for the kingdom of God's sake ; we shall strive and pray for 
the increase of God's kingdom upon earth ; we shall long to depart 
and be with Christ ; and yet we shall joyfully remain where a post 
of duty to him is assigned us. If he tries our faith by prosperity, 
we shall gladly give all that we have to the poor, and follow Christ 
to heaven, for those treasures which we are assured he has laid up 
in store for us there. If he tries us by adversity, we shall be ready 
to say, " Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 
If our friends are taken away from us by death, we shall trust in 
his promise, that we shall meet again, never more to part. Trust 
not to that which perisheth, trust not to that which fadeth away, 
trust not to health, nor mental powers, nor wealth ; " put not your 
trust in princes, nor in man, whose breath is in his nostrils ;" but 
trust in the God who has made heaven and earth, and who has 
promised, and will surely perform, that, if you love him, " he will 
never leave you nor forsake you." He will come and abide with 
you here, as the Comforter of your soul in all your troubles, and he 
will perfect all that belongs to you in eternal life. Will you not 
then love and serve him as affectionate children, and trust that, 
since he is your omniscient and omnipotent and beneficent Father, 
he will finally make you coheirs with Christ in eternal glory. 

But let your trust extend to a belief in all his promises. Never 
venture to determine in your own mind, that God will not do some 
things which he has promised to do, as we often see human beings 
remiss in the performance of their promises. This arises in them 
from weakness, especially when the performance involves any pain- 
ful duty. Parents make solemn threats of punishing their children, 
and frequently fail to do so from two motives, neither of which 
could operate upon our heavenly Father. They violate their faith 
to their children often from weakness, even when they are aware it 



100 POPULAR LECTURES. 

will be to their injury; often, perhaps, from a consciousness that 
their threats have been unjust or disproportioned to the offence. 
But the Deity, who makes no promises but those which are holy, 
just and true, will certainly perform those which he makes. On 
the one hand, if we love and obey his righteous commands, he will 
certainly receive us into everlasting joy; while, on the other hand, 
if we reject his law, and disobey his commandments, he will as 
certainly punish us, since he is true and faithful, and cannot vio- 
late his word. Now, he would not only have us free from great 
offences, but he would have us to be elevated and pure, " all glo- 
rious within ;" and,- to produce this purity and elevation, his com- 
mands are, that we abstain, not only from gross sins, but from all 
impure words ; and he has told us, that for every " idle word" we 
speak, we shall give an account in the day of judgment." This 
command, as well as the declaration that "jesting is not conve- 
nient," was certainly given to make us keep a watch over our lips, 
that we offend not with our tongues ; and that we give not that 
which is holy, (i. e., our souls which belong to God, and are there- 
fore called holy,) to the dogs ; that is, to low purposes and plea- 
sures, which will degrade them and disqualify them for the service 
to which God appoints them for his own glory. He has said that 
whoever "offends in the least, offends in all;" by which it is meant, 
that we shall make no reservations nor distinctions, as to some 
things which we choose to call slight offences, intimating thereby, 
that it cannot be a slight thing to offend against God. Now, again, 
I would advise you to consider this matter thoroughly, and ask 
yourselves whether the person who proves in one thing that he 
does not implicitly trust to the declarations of God, can have any 
reason to suppose that he will be satisfied with his faith in other 
things. No rational person could believe that God would consider 
his as an acceptable faith, who has said, thus far will I keep the law 
and no farther. If we would maintain the holy trust in God, which 
is peace and joy in believing, we must keep the whole law with 
equal exactness, or at least be conscious that it is our effort to do 
so ; and that we are as sincerely grieved when we find ourselves 
to have offended in any one point, as in another. Then shall we 
be sustained, under any occasional failures of duty, by him upon 
whom the burthen of our sins has been laid. He only can see the 
sincerity of our hearts, and know how truly we desire to obtain 
his favor by perfect conformity to his will ; and he will certainly 
perfect that good work which he has begun within us. So that, 
while we live in a constant conformity to his will, we must have a 
holy trust that God will keep his promises ; and we cannot but con- 
tinue to feel a blessed assurance that we are in the way of salva- 
tion, and our efforts should be, by prayer and pains-taking, to con- 
tinue in that happy state. The way to secure this is, by '-leaving 
that whereunto we have already attained, and pressing forward 



LECTURE XVII. 101 

towards the mark of the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus." 
So shall we ever find ourselves in pleasant places with Christ, and 
go on from joy to joy, as we do from glory to glory. 

1. What is the difference between belief and trust in God? 2. How does 
St. Paul define two kinds of faith ? 3. To which do we give the name of be- 
lief in God ? 4. To which that of trust in God ? 5. How do we prove that 
we have the first without the last ? 6. What is necessary to the existence of 
the last? 7. Can one sin knowingly and yet possess this faith? 8. What dif- 
ference is there in the hope of the man who keeps the commandments and one 
who does not ? 9. How does the fanatic seek heaven ? 10. How does the 
hope of the fanatic differ from that of the true believer? 11. How are the two 
different kinds of faith illustrated ? 12. Why can we not realize a perfect trust 
in God when we desire to do so ? 13. How must we obtain this trust ? 14. 
How are God's spiritual operations carried on as far as we know them? 15. 
How are the means used ? 16. Have the means any natural efficacy ? 17. What 
is the illustration ? 18. What if Naaman had refused to use the means ? 19. 
What if we refuse to use the means appointed for the cure of moral evil ? 20. 
What is the effect of using them ? 21. What must we have as the foundation 
of our faith? 22. What is the first attribute? 23. How is this illustrated? 
24. When does the comparison fail ? 25. What do we gain from a firm convic- 
tion of his attributes of wisdom and power ? 26. What is made certain to us 
by belief in his infinite goodness ? 27. What is the effect, upon our souls, of 
this trust in God ? 28. What if he tries us by prosperity ? 29. What if by 
adversity? 30. What if our friends die? 31. What should we not trust in? 
32. What should we trust in? 33. How must we prove our trust? 34. To 
what extent must we trust his word ? 35. What difference is there between 
earthly parents and a heavenly Parent ? 36. What must we expect he will 
certainly do ? 37. Why ? 38. What would he have us to be ? 39. What has 
been said about slight offences, as they are called? 40. What must we do if 
we would maintain a holy trust in God ? 41. What effect will be produced by 
an effort at perfect obedience ? 



9* 



1 02 POPULAR LECTURES. 

LECTURE XVIII. 

HONORING GOD BY OUR LIVES AND CONVERSATIONS. 

Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. — 1 Cor., x., 31. 

To honor God and to glorify God are synonymous terms ; and 
nothing has been more unjustly condemned than the use of such 
expressions. Men say plausibly, how can the creature add any 
thing to the Creator ? how can a worm of the dust give glory to 
the God of heaven and earth ! Certainly we can add nothing to 
the intrinsic character, or actual possessions of the Lord of all ; 
but the expression conveys, and means to convey, a very different 
idea. It means that by using voluntarily, as we are enabled to do, 
the power of the Deity to become in our own persons clear mani- 
festations of that glory of God which is displayed in the perfection 
of his creatures, we shall produce a moral influence upon all 
around us, which will lead to a general adoption of principles and 
conduct such as will increase the perfection and happiness of his 
creatures. The perfection and happiness of God's creatures is his 
greatest glory ; therefore, whatever adds to the perfection and hap- 
piness of his creatures, adds to his glory, or the manifestation of 
his glorious attributes to the created world. 

If God is revealed to us in a glorious light as the Creator of the 
world, certainly there is nothing which contributes v more to that 
glory than the creation of the human soul with all its wonderful 
faculties ; and to bring these faculties to maturity, and to exhibit 
man in that state of perfection of which his nature is susceptible, 
is certainly to augment the display of his Maker's glory. Every 
individual instance of superior moral elevation of character and 
conduct is calculated to produce a pious emulation, as well as a 
higher and stronger perception of the glorious intentions of the 
Creator with regard to us. It is an evidence that he, indeed, in- 
tended us to be examples of that glory of his in creation, which is 
manifested in all his works, but in nothing so much as in a good 
man, a good woman, or a good- child. As I believe, according to 
the doctrine just advanced, that examples are the means appointed 
by the Creator for the extension of his glory, as it is written, M Let 
men see your good works, that they may glorify your Father in 
heaven," I will, at present, endeavor to set before you such in- 
stances from real life, and so recent, as to be fair examples of what 
each one of us may be if we will. John Howard, deservedly call- 
ed the " philanthropist," may serve as the instance of a man who 
lived to the glory of God, Elizabeth Fry shall be our good womaiu 
and for a good child, since I cannot cite any who have been so con- 
spicuous as to add much by their active virtues to the glory of 



LECTURE XVIII. 103 

their Maker, I shall content myself in showing, you in what way it 
is possible even for " babes and sucklings to perfect praise." How 
beautiful to our eyes is the delicate rose-bud, when it first bursts 
the folded leaves that have concealed it from our sight, and shows 
its little fringed cone of tender green. It is not to compare in 
grace of form, in beauty of color, in rich and delicate odor, to the 
perfect rose ; but, after a long winter, the sight of the first spring 
bud brings with it more delight to our senses than a wilderness of 
summer roses. Because the promise is so sweet and refreshing, 
and we anticipate all that is lovely from that which we see. So, 
the earlier in life children give indication of their virtuous disposi- 
tions, their anxiety to prove their love of God by some active, per- 
severing effort to do good, the more we look forward to their glo- 
rifying God hereafter in their lives and conversations. Nor is 
there a sight upon earth more calculated to excite the reverence of 
man for the great power of God, than to witness that dominion of 
his grace in a young heart, of which we sometimes see such re- 
markable instances. 

Cornelia M , the daughter of my neighbor, and my god-child, 

was a lovely, gentle, innocent, intelligent, sprightly, but diligent 
child. Although playful, she was singularly given to serious medi- 
tation from her earliest childhood. At seven years of age she was 
teacher in the Sunday school, and so anxious to instruct the little 
slaves, in her father's house, to read the Scriptures, that she would 
weep for their averseness to learning ; " for how," she said, " would 
they ever know their duty to God, if they would not learn to read 
the Bible." Soon after she attained her eighth year, this dear child 
was taken with an inflammation of the throat, which, after a very 
short period of extreme agony, terminated in her death. During 
her illness, the admiration of all around her was excited by her 
patience, her consideration for others, her prayers for her friends, 
and for all mankind, and, finally, by the triumph of her faith in 
God in the trying hour of death. " I am in a great agony," she 
said ; " I am going very fast; I hope I may live to see my dear mo- 
ther and sisters," who were from home, but every hour expected 
to return. " I want to see them, and then I want to die, and go to 
heaven." "Mammy," she said, with infantine simplicity, to her 
weeping nurse, "don't cry for me; God is going to take ine to 
heaven to be his oivn dear little child.'''' Nor was there self-com- 
placency in this assurance of faith ; for, being in extreme agony, 
she exclaimed, " Oh, God ! have mercy upon me a poor sinful child." 
Her father replied, " God loves you, my dear ; you are not sinful, 
but a good, obedient little child." « Oh ! no, father," she replied, 
" God knows I am a sinner ; i" am not good." So that it was faith 
in God's mercy through Christ which strengthened her to desire 
to go " through the valley and shadow of death, fearing no evil." 
Blessed child! sweet, early blossom of paradise! how art thou 



1 04 POPULAR LECTURES. 

since expanded into celestial glory, planted for ever by the rivers of 
life ! May our deaths be like yours, gentle, sweet, full of love, and 
hope and peace in believing. None could doubt that she realized 
the nature of death ; for shortly before she had seen her little sis- 
ter, a pale corpse, laid in her little coffin, and committed to the 
earth. No martyrs ever proved more clearly their trust in the pro- 
mises of God. Sweet, happy cherub ! since your triumphant spirit 
winged its rejoicing flight to the kingdom of eternal glory, the 
conqueror of nations, the envy and admiration of ephemeral man, 
the great Napoleon, has fretted out the peevish remnant of his 
proud career, " like a beacon on the breast of the ocean ;" and if 
his conqueror still walks the earth, who, that thinks of the frailty 
of human greatness, but must anticipate the probable difference 
between the death of Wellington and that of the beautiful child 
pluming her dove-like wings for her heavenward flight, conscious 
of being beloved by the Glory of all the nations, the Conqueror of 
sin and death. 

In the history of ancient nations we are led to inquire what be- 
came of that miserable portion of human society who, from sick- 
ness, from vice, or from any of the various ills that flesh is heir to, 
were reduced to destitution among them — that class which fills our 
alms-houses and hospitals. We hear in every history, sacred and 
profane, of a prison to incarcerate the body of the unfortunate 
debtor, to chain the miserable criminal in dungeons, when his li- 
berty or life had been forfeited to the laws of his country, or to the 
despotism of man ; and to confine, in heavy fetters, the captive mon- 
arch, or the rival chief; but where are there any vestiges in their 
antiquities, of the asylums for widows and orphans, for the blind, the 
deaf and dumb ; where their houses of refuge for the reformation 
and education of vagrant youth, their alms-houses — " where age 
and want sit smiling at the gate." Wlience is it, that there seems 
to have been no provision for suffering poverty ; but the candidate 
for heaven, the poor, good man, " laid by the road side, and the 
dogs licked his sores." Whence the wonderful change which we 
now behold ; for while we no longer see some ghastly, dust-covered 
mummy enshrined in a magnificent mausoleum, sufficient for a liv- 
ing king and his retinue to dwell in, our lands are adorned with 
beautiful, bright edifices, on every front of which Christian charity 
seems to be emblazoned in words of living fire. It is the love of 
God shed abroad in our hearts which has thus changed our public 
institutions, substituting the active principle of serving the living, 
for burying the dead ; expending the resources of society in the 
promotion of human happiness and virtue, instead of exhausting 
the lives and treasures of nations, in splendid temples for the ab- 
surd and disgusting worship of some profligate woman, a Venus, 
a Juno, or a Diana, the records of whose infamous lives should be 
banished from our schools. The same spirit which has wrought 



LECTURE XVIII. 105 

such a change in the objects to which the wealth of man is devoted, 
has changed the direction of heroic minds, and the philanthropist is 
now considered as a greater man than the conqueror. Since 
Jesus has introduced a new criterion of human perfection, thou- 
sands on thousands have felt that, if the believer in Mars naturally 
offered the blood of slaughtered enemies to his God, as an accepta- 
ble gift, the believer in Jesus Christ must offer the sacrifice of every 
selfish principle of his own nature, and load the shrine of his God 
with works of love and mercy, to the just and to the unjust. Such 
a worshipper of the true God was John Howard ! He was 
trulv a Christain hero in spirit. Awed by no dangers, checked by 
no difficulties, repressed by no failures, he was never weary in well 
doing. And having opened his generous heart to the enlarged 
views of Christian charity, his compassion was equally touched 
with the iron that entered into the soul of the prisoner in Turkey, 
in Egypt, in Russia, or in England. Wherever there was a man, 
that man was a brother of his soul ; and that brother's groans, in 
his loathsome dungeon, fell upon Howard's heart, as he sat by his 
own cheerful fireside, surrounded by every social comfort ; and he 
arose and went forth on his pilgrimage, with Christ to live, to 
labor, and to die, for those who loved him not, who knew him not. 
No dazzling display of scenes to captivate the imagination gratified 
the latent vanity of the human heart, no pulling down of Bastiles, 
and casting out of the wretched inmates of monastic seclusion, ex- 
cited his pride by popular applause. No : while he passed slowly 
through the cells of criminals, or of the miserable victims of human 
selfishness, he substituted a bed for the damp ground, or un- 
changed straw ; he obtained fresh clothing for the long-forgotten 
tenant of some fetid cell ; or he procured one cheering ray of Hea- 
ven's blessed light to shed a smile upon the darkness of despair, 
within the dungeon's gloom. And if these angelic visits were ever 
registered for fame, it was by angels at the throne of Jesus, who 
never cease rejoicing in the holy labors of his saints on earth. 

Some years since, the attention of the English nation, first 
awakened by John Howard, was forcibly called to the state of pri- 
son discipline in England, and a bill was reported by Mr. Brougham 
to parliament on the subject. To prove the possibility and the ne- 
cessity for such a reform, he cited the then recent effect produced 
by the labors of a single benevolent individual, and that a delicate, 
and not very wealthy woman. Elizabeth Fry, a member of the 
Christian society called Friends, being in her youth one of those 
who are denominated gay Friends, after passing a winter in Lon- 
don in much company, became deeply sensible of the awful respon- 
sibility of spending time, talents, and every other means of useful- 
ness, in selfish amusements. She therefore determined at once to 
dedicate herself wholly to God, in the elevated pleasures of a pious 
life. She soon formed a plan to attempt the reform of the prisoners 



106 POPULAR LECTURES. 

in Newgate ; but her husband and family thought it so enthusiastic 
a scheme, that it was some time before she obtained their consent. 
Then, when she applied to the public authorities, they again op- 
posed her wishes, represented to her the horrid ferocity and despe- 
rate depravity of the wretched inmates of the prison. Only stimu- 
lated to perseverance by their descriptions, she Urged her petitions, 
until at last she obtained permission to make the experiment, and, 
accompanied by the keeper, entered the common room of the fe- 
male prisoners, who immediately crowded around her with vulgar 
curiosity. She inquired, with gentle benevolence, if then situation 
was not very comfortless and miserable. They replied that it was. 
She asked them if they would not rejoice to have a friend come 
among them, to assist them to do something to improve their con- 
dition. With the hardened recklessness of the desperately vicious, 
they laughed, and replied : " A friend ! who cares for us, or would 
spend their time in befriending us ! We have no friend." " Yes," 
said she, " you have a Friend, and he has sent me here to persuade 
you to aid me in plans which I have for your benefit." Then she 
opened the Bible which she had brought with her and read from Isaiah 
the following words: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he 
hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor : he hath sent me to 
heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and 
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." 
These touching words she explained in tones so expressive of deep 
feeling, that her horrid audience were actually melted into tears, 
while she told them of Jesus, their Friend, the Friend of prisoners 
and captives ; and that he had sent her to try to do them good ; 
and she besought their assistance to effect her good wishes. They 
willingly consented, and entered into her plans. She made her ar- 
rangements with the aid of a committee of young ladies, to teach 
them to sew and read ; for, as ignorance is the parent of vice, she 
found that most of them could do neither. Imagination cannot 
realize, probably, the scene described by a younk lady of the com- 
mittee, who undertook to open a school for these miserable wretches, 
in a small room which had been appropriated for the purpose. She 
said, that when they crowded in tumultuously, fighting for places, 
and cursing and scrambling over the benches which had been ar- 
ranged for their reception, she could only liken the scene to the 
lower regions, and felt an indescribable horror in finding herself 
shut up alone with them. The scene, however, was soon entirely 
changed. Order, cleanliness and sobriety pervaded the prison; 
and Mrs. Fry was daily greeted with the most perfect reverence 
and affection. On entering, instead of the various exhibitions of 
drinking, gambling, quarreling, &c., which usually prevail in the 
public room of a great prison, all the prisoners were to be found 
in groups, listening to the Bible, or some good book, while they 
employed their hands in a variety of work which had been pro- 



LECTURE XVIII. 107 

vided for them by their kind protectress. After a while, however, 
suddenly there appeared to be a great falling away; they went 
back to their bad habits, neglected their work, sold their materials 
for drink, and Mrs. Fry appeared to be defeated in all her efforts to 
reclaim them. She, however, continued her unremitting labors, 
every day addressing them, and always proposing some plan for 
their improvement and comfort. One day, about a fortnight after 
the change, a woman came to her, and, bursting into tears, drew a 
pack of soiled cards from her pocket, threw herself on her knees 
before her, and begged her forgiveness ; saying, that, she knew, un- 
less she obtained it, God never would forgive her. She stated, that 
when she was brought into the prison, and saw what was going 
on, she had been seized with the most determined hatred to Mrs. 
Fry and her plans ; and had resolved to thwart and oppose her in 
every thing. That for this purpose she had introduced cards, and 
drawn away the prisoners to every sort of dissipation. But she 
could hold out no longer against Mrs. Fry ; and she promised, if 
forgiven, she would never offend again. To this promise she was 
faithful; and, after effecting the greatest change there, Mrs. Fry 
went throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, establishing simi- 
lar regulations under the direction of prison committees. It is now 
nearly twenty years since the subject was brought before parlia- 
ment ; and this Christian woman is still, I trust, walking her rounds 
of duty, with the untiring zeal of one who draws her spirit from 
the everlasting God. These are, then, the examples which I pro- 
mised you, of persons in the ordinary walks of life, honoring God 
with their lives ; and, as they honored him by their deeds of bene- 
volence, so their conversation was always such as becomes godli- 
ness. If you are conscious that the sin of idle talking prevails 
among you ; if you are sensible of so offending individually ; or, if 
the sad effect of this low, disgraceful, and corrupting vice disturbs 
the peace and serenity of your little circle, let me entreat you, as 
the most certain corrective of the evil, to form some common plan 
for promoting the perfection and happiness of your fellow creatures. 
Imbue your hearts with the spirit of active charity, and the gossip 
of the worldly minded will indeed sound on your ears like idle 
words. No conversation will then appear to you worthy of notice, 
but such as has some evident bearing upon the improvement or 
happiness of the human race. When this has once become the 
main object of your hopes, your fears, your labors, and your pray- 
ers, it will become the most interesting subject of your thoughts, 
and the favorite theme of your conversations. Imagine Mr. How- 
ard, or Mrs. Fry, to return home at evening, with souls filled with 
images of the poor prisoners they had visited, hand-cuffed and 
chained, lying on a pile of filthy straw, perishing with cold and 
hunger, or, worse, in the horrid bondage of sin, blaspheming, 
drinking an<J fighting in their superterrene hole. Do you think 



108 POPULAR LECTURES. 

they would be agreeably amused, if, when their efforts were di- 
rected to " stir up the pure minds fervently" of the young around 
them, to aid in their noble labors, they were called upon to join in 
the childish prattle of girls discussing the ribands on their hair, or 
the rings on their fingers ; or, in the equally contemptible jargon of 
young men of fashion, of their hat-rims, or coat capes, or shoe- 
ties, or, still worse, the cruel, wicked custom, usual with both 
sexes, of dissecting characters, and speaking evil of others, merely 
to excite some interest in their vapid conversation 1 Conversation 
is to vjorks what the flower is to the fruit. A godly conversation 
shelters and cherishes the new-born spirit of virtue, as the flower 
does the fruit, from the cold, chill atmosphere of a heartless world ; 
and the beauty of holiness expanding in conversation, gives ra- 
tional anticipation of noble-minded principles ripening into the rich- 
est fruits of good works. You know the tree as well by the flower 
as the fruit, and never need you hope to see the fig follow the this- 
tle flower, or grapes the wild bloom of the thorn tree. Honor God, 
then, with your bodies and spirits, in your lives and conversations, 
show forth holiness out of a good conversation; for the king's 
daughter is all glorious within. 

1. What are synonymous terms ? 2. What do they mean ? 3. What is the 
greatest glory of' God? 4. How can we promote it? 5. In what is his glory 
in creation most manifested? 6. Who are cited as examples? 7. Why is a 
rose-bud deemed so beautiful? S. To what is its beauty here compared? 
9. What is it that we cannot find in ancient history ? 10. To what is the great 
change in this respect owing ? 11. What should be banished from our schools ? 
12. What other change has been wrought by the same spirit? 13. How did 
John Howard glorify God ? 14. How did Mrs. Fry illustrate the same princi- 
ple ? 15. What is the surest corrective for idle talking ? 16. What will be the 
effect of cultivating charity? 17. How would Mr. Howard or Mrs. Fry have 
relished fashionable conversation ? 18. What is the relation between conver- 
sation and works compared to ? 19. How is the comparison carried out ? 20. 
What is the king's daughter ? 



LECTURE XIX. 109 

LECTURE XIX. 

THE FEAR AND LOVE OF GOD. 

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogancy. — Pro v., viii., 13. 

If we measure civilized man, as a species, with Christ, and con- 
sider his words, "If ye are as I am in this world, ye shall be with 
me in the world to come," we cannot but be astounded, and say, 
«« Who then can be saved f ' At long intervals, however, some men 
have arisen as witnesses for God, to show that the law is holy, just 
and honorable. That it is made by the Omniscient, who knows 
what powers he has conferred upon his creatures, and consequently 
what he has a right to require. Such was Howard, such were 
Swartz, Oberlin, Felix Neff, Martyn, and many others : a sufficient 
number to prove that God requires nothing more than the best use 
to be made of the powers he bestows. We have then to ask, 
with increased anxiety, why, if God has given both the command 
and the power to obey it, men are living so without God in the 
world 1 Because we have most of us parted with the freedom of 
conscience which we all have by nature ; " we have sold ourselves 
for naught," " we are sold under bondage to sin," " and no man 
hath wherewith to redeem his soul," or " ransom his brother." We 
have accustomed ourselves to disregarding and violating the com- 
mands of God, until we have contracted a contemptuous disbelief 
of them ; and now we follow our natural propensities, which are 
in all flesh "earthly, sensual, devilish." And how, I pray you, 
were the men we have named, or was ever any other man, brought 
to illustrate the sublime principle of holiness by his life and conver- 
sation T Never, but by cultivating a just timidity as to his own 
performances, and so high a sense of the perfect requirements of 
God's law, as creates a wholesome fear of coming short of them. 
Under this state of mind, holiness becomes an object of intense de- 
sire ; we see its transcendent beauty, we love it, and, consequently, 
we fear never to obtain it. We discover that God is its only 
source, and we begin to apprehend what the law means by the 
command, "Be ye holy, for I am holy ;" " be ye perfect, as your Fa- 
ther in heaven is perfect." Be ye perfect sons, as your Father is a 
perfect Father ; perform your relative duties to him, and to each 
other, as he performs his relative duties to you. Set your whole 
heart, and mind, and strength to the study of his will, that, in the 
spirit of obedience, you may say, as Christ did, " Lo ! I come to do 
thy will, O God!" The fear of God enjoined upon his people is not 
the fear which a slave has of a cruel master, but the fear that a 
noble-minded, affectionate son has of doing any thing to distress 
his father ; and whoever has not this fear, has not true love for his 

10 



1 1 POPULAR LECTURES. 

parent ; neither can any man love God without having it in a very 
high degree. To obtain it, we must often and deeply consider the 
certainty that the God who fashioned and made us, within and 
without, certainly knows, at all times, the most secret thoughts of 
our hearts. We should always feel as if he were visibly present ; 
as if the eye of one whom we love and fear, and to whom we are 
responsible, was fixed upon us ; that he would reward, love us, 
and bless our labors, just in proportion as our thoughts and inten- 
tions were according to his holy will and commandments : and 
that, on the other hand, we should make ourselves odious to his 
holiness, if we followed the lower propensities of our animal nature. 
Imitate then, ye that wish for glory, honor and immortality, the 
custom of the Lord Jesus Christ, who always met every exigency 
with Scripture ; and carry about with you as a talisman, this 
wholesome command : " Sanctify the Lord of hosts in your heart, 
and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." Cultivate 
such an apprehension of his great sanctity, as may fill your hearts 
with an awe and fear of being seen, and examined thoroughly, by 
such a perfect Being ; of being called into his presence to answer for 
all your follies and impurities ; and to account to him for never 
having used the means which had been so effectual in preserving 
others from the pollution of sin, and in elevating them to such emi- 
nence in virtue. Solomon says, ; ' The fear of the Lord is the be- 
ginning of wisdom ;" and St. John says, " Perfect love casteth out 
fear." Let us then cultivate a wise fear of falling short in the love 
and obedience which we owe to the Lord our God ; nor be too for- 
ward to dismiss the principle upon any apprehension that our love 
will satisfy his perfection ; for, in his great love for us, he would 
have us to shine forth in his own divine image. It is a fact, easily 
explained, that those who have proved the highest love of God, 
have also had the strongest apprehensions of falling short of sal- 
vation. The reason is, simply, because they retain a very high 
sensibility of conscience, from not hardening themselves by sin ; 
and, by purity of mind, they obtain such views of the holiness of 
God, as cast their best works into so strong a light as to expose 
their imperfections and corruption to view, and to deprive them of 
all the eclat which they might derive from comparison with the 
works of men. The last words John Howard ever penned were 
these : 

" I think I never look into myself, but I find some corruption and 
sin in my heart. Oh, God! do thou sanctify and cleanse the 
thoughts of my depraved heart. Oh ! that the Son of God may 
not have died for me in vain." 

But this was in the consideration of himself, for he had perfect 
confidence in the merits and mediation of Christ, and left it to be 
inscribed on his tomb : " In Christ is my hope." The day he died, 
Jhe told Admiral Priestman, "Priestman, you style this a dull con- 



LECTURE ^XIX. HI 

versation, and endeavor to divert my mind from dwelling upon 
death; but I entertain very different sentiments. Death has no 
terrors for me ; it is an event I always look forward to with cheer- 
fulness, if not with pleasure ; and, be assured, the subject is more 
grateful to me than any other." But how shall the man who has 
such a sense of duty as to adopt the following maxim, fail to trem- 
ble before the all-seeing God 1 

"Our superfluities," says Mr. Howard, "should be given up for the 
conveniences of others ; our conveniences should give place to the 
necessities of others; and even our necessities give way to the 
extremities of the poor." Looking at ourselves, we may well be 
all fear ; looking to God in Christ, we have nothing to fear ; but 
that we may fail so to divest ourselves of a worldly spirit, as to be 
entirely surrendered to his will and pleasure. It is a safe method to 
dwell much upon the love of God, and his great and manifold mer- 
cies, so that we may be encouraged by a strong hope. At the 
same time it is a wholesome apprehension and one that makes us 
careful, often to look into our own sins and imperfections, until we 
are conscious that there is much reason to fear that we are too 
sinful and too little sensible of the great goodness of Christ to be 
permitted to plead a claim through him as a Savior. Fear is the 
fruit of self-knowledge, and self-knowledge is a divine science, learn- 
ed by studying with meekness and perseverance, under the teach- 
ing of God's word, the daily course of our own performances of 
duty. 

Nor let soft slumber close your eyes, 
Before you've recollected thrice, 
The Irain of actions through the day: 
Where have my feet chose out their way ? 
What have I learn 'd, where'er I've been, 
From all I've heard, from all I've seen ? 
What know I more, that's worth the knowing ? 
What have I done that's worth the doing ? 
What have I sought that I should shun ? 
What duty have I left undone ? 
Or into what new follies run ? 
These self- inquiries are the road 
That leads to virtue and to God. 

Now no one can faithfully perform this duty without seeing how 
much they fall short of their obligations every day : consequently, 
they must fear that when they are weighed in God's balance, they 
will be found wanting. But, at the same time, when most impressed 
by a sense of our demerits, we most clearly perceive the infinity of 
that goodness and mercy which have followed us in spite of our 
un worthiness, all the days of our lives; and we are conscious, that 
if ever we are lost, or fall short of glory, honor and immortality, it 
is because we will not obey the command to come to the Savior, 
and let him purify us, and make us fit for the presence of God. 



1 12 POPULAR LECTURES. 

Thus fear checks presumption, and hope nourishes faith, and sti- 
mulates to active efforts to please God; and the two principles 
work together for the perfection of the human soul. 

1. What men have proved that God does not require more than man can 
perform ? 2. Why, if men can, do they not perform their duties? 3. How is 
infidelity produced ? 4. How were these men enabled to attain so high a de- 
gree of holiness ? 5. How does holiness become the object of our desires ? 
6^ What is the meaning of our being perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect? 
7. What is the fear of God ? 8. Can we love God without fearing him ? 9. 
How should we obtain it? 10. What command should we carry about as a 
talisman? 11. What should we cultivate ? 12. How do we reconcile Solomon 
and St. John on the subject of fear? 13. Why have the best men still enter- 
tained fear of coming short of their duty ? 14. What were the last words of 
John Howard ? 15. Why did he use such expressions, did he fear death ? 16. 
What was Howard's maxim? 17. When should we be all fear? 18. When 
have we nothing to fear ? 19. What is a safe method ? 20. How should we 
learn self-knowledge ? 21. Repeat Dr. Watts' verses ? 22. When do we most 
clearly see the great mercy of God ? 23. If we ever fear being lost hereafter,, 
what causes the fear? 24. What effect has fear, and what counteracts its 
excess ? 



LECTURE XX. 



113 



LECTURE XX. 

PRAYER. 

Men ought always to pray and not to faint.— Luke, xviii., 1. 

My dear young friends : 

That men should pray is not contained as a command in the De- 
calogue, nor in any other law of Moses. This may surprise you, 
unless you consider well what prayer is. It is the natural expres- 
sion of religious affections, and consequently cannot be commanded 
to those who have none, and need not be to those who have. It is 
as needless to command men to pray, as to command them to ask 
for food or drink, when they are hungry or thirsty. If prayer is 
merely an expression of the soul's sincere desire, why urge a man 
to ask for what he wants, when you have placed a Being before 
him, as the object to whom his prayers may be freely addressed, 
and from whom he may be certain of meeting with perfect sympa- 
thy, and the full accomplishment of his wishes. If prayer, then, is 
a mere voluntary expression of our thoughts and feelings, prayer is 
a privilege, and not justly the ground of positive enactment. To 
despise and neglect such a privilege must necessarily be punished 
by a loss of all the blessings which are contingent upon the use of 
that privilege. The benevolence, then, of the Deity is expressed in 
affording man a code of moral instruction, by which he is made 
sensible of his moral wants, and the source whence he may obtain 
their supply ; and the simple suggestion, that " men ought always 
to pray," is freely and frequently given in Scripture. Instead, then, 
of enjoining upon you to pray, I would present to you first for con- 
sideration, the duty of a preparation for prayer, which consists in 
a high sense of the great dignity and holiness of the Being who is 
to be addressed. The full perception that he has purposely made 
you dependent upon himself, and that there is no other way by 
which you can obtain the supply of your wants ; and lastly, that 
your real wants be fully discriminated in your own mind, from 
those false and spurious desires which originate in the base animal 
propensities. If " you ask amiss," you will not receive. Neither 
can you suppose that the great and holy God will be pleased to 
find you neglecting the good of your immortal soul, and its grand 
and glorious destiny, for the sake of that perishable house of clay, 
in which the spiritual tenant is lodged for a few brief days. Sti- 
mulate, then, your desires for those things which will conduce to 
your true good, by forcing your thoughts continually to dwell upon 
them, as you increase your animal wants by contemplating their 
attractions; and "be not hasty to utter any thing before God." 
When a man urgently desires any thing, he will be ready to ex- 

10* 



114 POPULAR LECTURES. 

press his wants, even to those who cannot gratify them ; and how 
much more so to those whom he knows to be only waiting for the 
expression of his wishes to fulfil, them. No scepticism could pre- 
vent him from asking from One who alone knew and had power to 
relieve his necessities, that which his soul longed to obtain. 

Consider, then, this wonderful state of being, with all its infinite 
series of co-operating contrivances, the work of one God ; the same 
God who brought you into existence, and gifted you with the means 
of seeing him in his works. Consider, that he who planted the ear 
must hear ; he that revealed himself to us as the omnipotent Crea- 
tor, and made us conscious that much is wanting to the perfection 
of our happiness, intended thereby to lead us to apply to him to 
perfect that which he had begun. We cannot doubt that such was 
the intention of the Creator, since such is the effect of that nature 
which he has given us, and tuose providences by which he has sur- 
rounded us. 

I apprehend that a most serious injury has been done to man- 
kind by too frequently presenting prayer to them as a duty, rather 
than as a privilege ; by inculcating the idea that it is a something to 
be done, from a sense of duty, as a good ivork, whereas prayer is 
simply the natural expression of our wants and wishes ; and un- 
less we are conscious of wants and wishes we cannot pray. In- 
stead, then, of recommending to men to pray, I would urge upon 
them to put themselves in a condition to pray ; to qualify them- 
selves to do so, by meditation upon their condition before God. 
How much they want, that he alone can give them ! It is only by 
a knowledge of his being and attributes that they can know how 
to address themselves to him. And it is by a strong perception of 
his great wisdom, power and goodness, that they are led to form a 
desire, which is certainly excited, that it may be gratified. It is a 
movement of the soul which he means them to follow, just as hun- 
ger is intended to lead us to seek nourishment for our bodies. And, 
moreover, this proves his approbation of their following this na- 
tural disposition to lay their wants and wishes before him, by 
making it the means of increasing their happiness and virtue, even 
when his wisdom denies their requests. " I would, then, that all 
men should pray" is the language of nature as well as of revela- 
tion ; and, in fact, savages (praying to their idols of wood and stone) 
are the convincing evidence of this ; for the soul so much inclines 
to address its wants to some superior power, that it prays, even to 
the works of its own hands, from the foolish ignorance of the na- 
tural mind being persuaded that Deity will delight to dwell in what 
is so much the object of its own admiration. If, then, all men do 
not pray to our holy God, it is because they feel no want of those 
things which they might ask of him ; what they feel they want, 
they pray for. The proud man prays to the God of his own ima- 
gination, that his enemies may be humbled ; the Christian prays to 



LECTURE XX. 115 

his God, that his sins may be forgiven. The sensual seek pleasure 
in the groves of Cytherea ; the pure in heart see God as he is, and 
pray for his holy Spirit to elevate their thoughts and feelings, and 
make themselves more like himself; nor is it difficult to perceive 
what prayers will ascend as grateful incense to the throne of the 
high and holy One who inhabits eternity. Never, then, offer to 
God a form of prayer, without having first realized the substance 
of it in your heart, whether it be supplication or praise. God, in 
various ways, arranges his providences so as to excite in our 
minds a sense of gratitude, and thus we are as naturally led to 
thanksgiving as we are led to supplication, by the pressure of our 
wants, and their subsequent gratification. Thus he works in us to 
will of his good pleasure, and to come before him with praise and 
thanksgiving, as he, by the recurrence of hunger, makes us grate- 
ful for food, and, by the weariness of the body, makes us thankful 
for rest. God has ordained whatever is the unavoidable effect of 
his providences. Adam saw, in his solitude, amid the joyous up- 
roar of birds and beasts disporting each with their kind, that it was 
not good for man to be alone. It was through the voice of nature 
that God said it to him. And when the perception of his loneliness 
had become painful, then the wisely withheld blessing became a 
lively type to him of the parental care of his Creator, and he said, 
" God saw that it was not good for man to be alone." It is the spi- 
ritual communion with God in the sanctuary which brings our spirits 
to a perfect conformity with his Spirit. Consider then maturely, my 
dear young friends, what your real wants are, and speak nothing 
rashly or irreverently before your Maker, " who giveth to all life, 
and health, and all things." And be assured that, if in his wisdom 
he sees that the granting your prayer will conduce to your true 
good, he will grant it, if not, he will in its stead bestow what in the 
end you will find to be much better. " Use no vain repetitions" in 
addressing him " who knows, before you ask, what things are ne- 
cessary for you ;" but will have you feel and think much of your 
spiritual, as well as your temporal wants, of your dependence upon 
him ; and lay them all before him with reverence, and humble sub- 
mission, in a perfect assurance that he " is a Hearer of prayer, and 
a Rewarder of those who diligently seek him." 

If a preparation of the heart is necessary for prayer, we can no 
where obtain such aid in making this preparation, as in a deep and 
careful study of the Holy Scriptures ; and a consideration of our 
troubles and necessities should lead us to use such means as it has 
pleased him, to whom we are to pray, to afford, of acquiring a 
knowledge of what will be acceptable to him in prayer ; and it is 
evident that we cannot pursue the appointed means without becom- 
ing more and more worthy of his grace and mercy. Let us then 
see what is said in holy writ on the duty of prayer. 

Private prayer is enjoined there, in these words : " Enter into 



116 POPULAR LECTURES. 

your closet, and pray to your Father in secret, and your Father 
which seeth in secret shall reward you openly." 

Social prayer is also thus inculcated : " Where two or three are 
agreed together to ask any thing in my name, I will grant it." 

Public prayer is also thus indirectly commanded : " It is written 
that my house shall be called the house of prayer." God, then, 
having appointed the temple as the peculiar place of prayer, our 
Savior banished all worldly concerns from it, that the command of 
his Father might be fulfilled, and the house once more be dedicated 
to prayer. In conformity to this, the Christians, at the same time 
that they were instructed not to confide in the office of high priest, 
which was at an end, since the bringing in of better things by the 
blood of Christ, were told " not to neglect assembling themselves 
together;" and Peter and John went up into the temple at the hour of 
prayer. When the veil of the temple was rent in twain, it was 
that the glory might fill the whole house. In the New Testament, 
then, which is our peculiar institute of practical law, we have a de- 
dicated temple, an assembling of the people, an appointed hour of 
prayer, which the apostles obeyed as scriptural precedent, (for 
direct law to pray, we have observed, there is none, although 
many regulations, as to the time, frequency, manner, matter, place, 
and, above all, the spirit of our prayers.) And now the only point 
to be examined is, did each one pray for himself, or were they led 
by one voice ! St. Paul speaks of the gift of prayer, and not pray- 
ing in an unknown tongue to the people ; and since .they were pro- 
mised a blessing when two or three asked the same thing, doubt- 
less they who were of one mind and one spirit, when they came 
together, united their voices in making their common request to the 
universal Father; but they were led by the appointed minister. 
We should use, then, private prayer for our individual wants ; 
social prayer for social purposes ; and public prayer, to make 
known to the Lord of the whole earth our national wants. We 
should also use prayer as the appointed means of binding society 
together in the ties of Christian fellowship. Those who habitually 
partake of the privileges of the sanctuary cannot, if they worship 
in spirit and truth, fail to love each other, and to be deeply con- 
cerned for those things for which they united in prayer. 

The earliest annals of history speak of acts of devotion performed 
by good and bad. We find, however, that such men as Moses, 
David, and Daniel prayed constantly and fervently ; and when men 
have given the evidence of wisdom which Moses gave, and of ge- 
nius and eloquence such as David possessed, they may be permit- 
ted, if they are so disposed, to convince others of the inutility of 
prayer. When Jesus was asked by his disciples to teach them to 
pray, he gave them a formula, which, for conciseness and compre- 
hensiveness, has been the admiration of those who have examined 
it, for more than eighteen centuries. An analysis of it affords us the 



LECTURE XX. 117 

amplest view of our relations to God, to ourselves, and to our fel- 
low creatures, and yet it is so simple, that an infant can be taught 
to comprehend it. 

Bishop Wilson has mentioned it, as the chief use of prayer, that 
it changes (not God's councils, but) us, making us more worthy 
subjects of his grace and mercy. Nothing can be more calculated 
to produce such an effect, than an examination of the high and 
holy import of those few simple words of the Lord's prayer. In 
the first words, " Our Father which art in heaven," we are taught 
to address the Diety by a term which must excite the highest sense 
of dependence, gratitude, and reverence for him, as a Father- 
Secondly, they teach us not to view him as our own Father alone, 
but the words, " our Father," remind us that, as he is the common 
Parent of men, all men are brethren ; and so, by a sense of our 
duty to him, we are forcibly reminded of our duty to each other. 
Thirdly, the state of heaven is here introduced to remind us that 
there is a state of being where our common Parent is ; and to 
which we should all strive to be admitted, as to a home. Fourthly, 
we are taught to pray, " Hallowed be thy name," that is, that all 
men may have a due understanding and reverence for the holy 
name of our heavenly Father : that they may comprehend in it all 
his great and glorious attributes ; and, in making this petition, we 
must consider well whether the honesty of our words is proved by 
our efforts to produce this happy state of the world. Fifthly, " Thy 
kingdom come" is the natural sequent of the foregoing clause. 
For if men would but so seriously consider all that is implied by 
hallowing his name, (i. e.) not to speak of it without due apprehen- 
sions of his wisdom, power, and goodness, they must come so tho- 
roughly under his dominion, as that God's kingdom should come, 
or be established among men. And, sixthly, men knowing his di- 
vine perfection, and seeing the " beauty of holiness," would never 
be satisfied until that state was brought about, in which God's " will 
should be done on earth as it is in heaven" Blessed state of peace 
and love ! If it reigns for a little time, in one heart, it is a foretaste 
of heaven ; in one family, it would be a miniature heaven on earth. 
If it were fulfilled in all the nations of the earth, it would be earth 
turned into heaven ; it would be the millennial reign of Christ. But 
although this state of things is the constant object of our labors, and 
the incessant subject of our prayers, yet have we to wait patiently 
for its fulfilment. So far, in the spirit of universal benevolence, we 
are taught to pray for common blessings upon the whole human 
race. But now we are permitted to make our personal requests 
known, and how much is included (seventhly) in the few words, 
" Give us this day our daily bread." Old and young, rich and poor, 
from the monarch to the peasant, each one is dependent upon the 
providence of God for bread ; for the sustenance of their being, 
both bodily and spiritual. And as we cannot take a sufficient por- 



118 POPULAR LECTURES. 

tion ©f nourishment to-day, to enable us to dispense with a similar 
portion for to-morrow and the next day, and again the next, so we 
are bound to feel that our dependence upon God is from instant to 
instant ; and what we want ev T ery day, we should ask for every 
day. Eighthly, what a volume of virtue and happiness might be ex- 
tracted from this form of supplication, " Forgive us our trespasses 
as we forgive those who trespass against us." As we measure unto 
others shall it be measured unto us again. Oh, heavenly Father ! 
then fijl our hearts with thy perfect love, that we, showering the 
blessings of Christ's glorious Gospel upon the whole benighted 
world around us, thou mayst pour out upon us the precious things 
of thy divine love. Let us not rest in mere passive forgiveness ; 
let us love and do good to our worst enemies, that thou mayst love 
us for our resemblance to thee. Ninthly, what could follow more 
suitably the consideration of the duty of mercy and forgiveness, 
than that we should pray, " Lead us not," or " suffer us not to be 
led into temptation." Let no prosperity tempt us to forget our- 
selves, nor adversity harden our hearts, so as to weaken our trust 
and confidence in thee, our God ; nor dry up the sources of our 
Christian charity and sympathy with our fellow creatures; but, 
tenthly, "Deliver us from evil." Let thy omnipotence control, not 
only outward events for our safety and happiness, but enter into 
our sinful minds, oh, heavenly Father! and leave us not to our de- 
praved nature, but govern us in all things, by thy grace ; so shall 
we be enabled to live as subjects of thy kingdom, and power, and 
glory. 

Prayer, or the worship of God, is divided into three parts, con- 
fession, supplication, and thanksgiving or praise. Each one of them 
is equally obligatory with the others. It is our duty to confess our 
sins to God in secret, then it is our duty to acknowledge our sins 
before men, as an example to them that they may confess their sins. 
So of supplication, it is our duty to pray both in private and in public, 
for those things which we are commanded to ask of God, that 
others may be induced to do so too. If thanksgivings are proper 
for one, they are so for all men ; and we should let men see us per- 
form our duties to God, that they also may glorify our Father in 
Heaven. 

1. Is there any law of Moses commanding prayer, and why not ? 2. What 
is prayer, if it is not a moral commandment ? 3. What are the necessary ef- 
fects of neglecting it? 4. How is the benevolence of God shown on this sub- 
ject? 5. What should be enjoined instead of a command to pray ? 6. What 
does preparation for prayer consist in? 7. When do we not receive what we 
pray for? 8. What must displease God in prayer' 9. What desires should we 
then cultivate, and how? 10. What is the natural consequence of urgent de- 
sires ? 11. Would scepticism check such desires when much excited? 12. 
What considerations awaken such desires ? 13. How have men been injured ? 
14. Under what circumstances are we incapable of prayer? 15. How can 
they know in what manner to address him ? 16. How do we know that God. 



LECTURE XXI. 119 



LECTURE XXI. 



serving god with the life and substance. to devote myself, my 

Life, and all that i call mine, to his service. 

Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mo- 
ther, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hun- 
dred fold, and shall inherit eternal life. — Matthew, xix., 29. 

What have we that we have not received of God 1 Have we 
independent existence, or is there any other possession of which 
we may say, it is mine, I made it 1 Wealth ] The earth is the 
Lord's, and the fulness thereof Power ? There is no power but 
of God, and thou couldst have none, unless it were given to thee 
from above. Talents'? He who made thee and fashioned thee, 
within and without, committed these to thy keeping. Time ] Be- 
hold, yet a little while, and thou shalt not be, and thy place shall 
know thee no more. But when thy mortal life has gone out, and 
all thy earthly pursuits and pleasures have passed away and are 
forgotten, then shalt thou hear, in thy grave, the herald of the eter- 
nal I AM, "who was, and is, and is to come," calling thee back to 
existence ; and thou shalt stand before him and answer to these 
awful questions. Where is the interest of those talents which I 
committed to thee upon earth ] I gave thee an improvable faculty, 
I bestowed upon thee a spark of my own divine fire, and intended 
and commanded thee to kindle a great flame with that little spark. 

intends us to pray ? 17. What is the language of nature as well as of revela- 
tion ? 18. How is this proved ? 19. What is the origin of idolatry ? 20. Why 
do not all men pray to the true God? 21. What are the different objects of 
men's prayers ? 22. How does God invite us to prayer and praise ? 23. What 
is it that God has ordained ? 24. How did God communicate to Adam that it 
was not good for man to be alone ? 25. Why did he give him this perception ? 
26. How are we brought to spiritual communion with God ? 27. When and 
how does God answer prayer? 28. What ought we to be perfectly assured of? 
29. Where can we obtain aid in preparation for prayer? 30. What considera- 
tions shoiild lead us to seek eveiy means as may instruct us how to please him? 
31. What is said of private prayer in the Scriptures? 32. What of social ? 
33. What of public prayer? 34. What of a place of public worship? 35, 
What command had the Christians, and what did Peter and John ? 36. What 
is the Christian's institute of practical law ? 37. Did Christians pray together 
or each one for himself? 38. What effects follow prayer? 39. Have men 
always prayed? 40. What good men do we read of as men of prayer? 41. 
What did the disciples ask the Savior ? 42. What did he reply ? 43. What 
does Bishop Wilson say of prayer? 44. Explain the first words of the Lord's 
prayer. 45. The next 46. The next. 47. The next. 48. What objects 
are put first in the Lord's prayer ? 49. What next? 50. Explain this clause, 
"Give us," &c 51. The next. 52. The next. 53. The last. 54. If God 
grants this prayer what must be the effect ? 55. What three parts is the wor- 
*tup of God divided into ? 56. What is our duly in the use of prayer ? 



120 POPULAR LECTURES. 

I intended thee to become a burning and shining light, to glorify 
me among men, and thou wouldst not. 

Look back eighteen hundred years ago, and behold, in a pro- 
vince of the Roman empire, by the seaside, a young man, dressed 
in the garb of a peasant, walks there alone ! He sees two fisher- 
men drying their nets, and he calls to them, (and afterwards at dif- 
ferent times to ten other obscure men,) and commands or per- 
suades them to follow him. What is he'? Where are they to fol- 
low him? What inducements does he offer them ? What are their 
united efforts to effect 1 He was, we are told, a carpenter's son ; 
he had lived heretofore with his parents, in the obscurity of the 
most despised district of the province. It does not appear that he 
clearly communicated to his companions why they were to follow 
him ; and the influence by which he induced them to do so, can 
only be explained by the unique character which is ascribed to his 
presence, his power, his wisdom and his goodness, in which they 
felt the presence of divinity. Never man acted like this man, might 
have been said with the same truth which forced his appalled ad- 
versaries to confess that " never man spake like this man." He 
came, as he declared, to set up a kingdom which should pervade 
the whole earth : and yet his kingdom was not of this world. He 
was the Prince of peace, and yet he came not to bring peace upon 
earth, but a sword. He came to reign, but he came to die an 
ignominious death. He promised his disciples thrones and king- 
doms ; and yet he warned them, that they should be scourged and 
tormented, and put to death for his name's sake ; and yet not a 
hair of their heads should perish. They followed him, because 
they saw in him a tone of authority which they had never seen 
in the most highly gifted men; and they thought he was, (strange 
and paradoxical as it might seem,) the Christ, the Messiah; the 
long hoped for Prince, who was to restore Israel. The object to be 
effected by their united efforts, is to be collected from various rela- 
tions which they have left in writing. It appears from these, that 
the first work they entered upon was teaching ; and when they had 
succeeded in collecting a sufficient audience, his first public dis- 
course is recorded. From it we are led to perceive that his object 
was to make the poor contented with their destiny, and to inculcate 
peace and good will among men, and especially to promise with 
authoritative decision the highest rewards and enjoyments of hea- 
ven to the meek, the pure in heart, and the peace-makers. Having 
spent several years in great poverty, inculcating an unresisting 
submission to personal injuries, and even forbidding his followers 
to defend his life when violently assailed, we hear that he was at 
last crucified publicly, and it would seem intentionally ; for the his- 
tory so states that he previously instructed his followers it " must 
needs be." But why "must it needs be?" Because he meant 
those who should hereafter believe in his name to see that they 



LECTURE XXI. 121 

must not value their lives in comparison with the object of pro- 
moting his kingdom upon earth. He meant to leave to his follow- 
ers a command to " go unto all nations, baptizing every creature, 
teaching them all such things as they should do," in spite of every 
resistance and persecution which the wrath of man could devise. 
They were to persevere against kings and princes, and magistrates, 
scourges and tortures, and violent deaths, in doing his mandate ; 
and he meant, after a life of superhuman wisdom, goodness and 
power, to die, and to rise again from the dead, to convince them 
that it was their duty to devote themselves, all that they were, and 
all that they had, to the objects to which he had directed their at- 
tention. They so understood it, and, putting away from them all 
worldly-mindedness, they entered zealously upon their duty, and 
wherever they made converts, those converts thought themselves 
bound to enter upon the same course of life, and to give them- 
selves, and all that they possessed, to the promotion of their Mas- 
ter's cause. And now, do you ask me, where was the injunction 
taken off? I profess to you I could never see why or when it was 
supposed to be remitted. I know not why we are not individually 
bound at this moment, if we are enjoying all the blessed influences 
of Christian institutions, and all its precious hopes, to do as much 
in the service of its Founder, as were the first disciples. That we 
were expected to continue the work of evangelizing the whole 
world, I conclude from the expression, "Lo! I am with you al- 
ways, even unto the end of the world." Now it is unaccountable, 
that Christians should have ceased to go unto all nations, and 
should have persuaded themselves that they were living under 
some new dispensation, in which they were exempted from the 
duty of laboring to effect the purpose for which the Savior and the 
apostles shed their blood ; and I believe that whoever will take up 
the New Testament, and study it with an anxious desire to ascer- 
tain his whole duty, that he may leave no part undone, will be con- 
vinced that it is as much our duty now to propagate true religion 
among all the nations, as it was that of St. Paul or St. Peter. He 
will be convinced that God will require at our hands that we should 
have dispensed to the ignorant all the light which we possess ; and 
that our money, time, influence, and every other means, should be 
devoted, without reserve, to promote the cause of truth. That, 
laying aside all worldly, sensual, selfish objects, we should dedicate 
ourselves to such studies and pursuits as may most effectually pre- 
pare us for usefulness. He will feel that we should joyfully conse- 
crate ourselves, our lives, and all that we call ours, to the extension 
of his kingdom upon earth. This I am sure of, because the com- 
mand is, "teach every creature;" and, consequently, until every 
creature has been taught, the command has not been fulfilled ; and, 
since the apostles, by the permission of Heaven, have departed and 
left the work unfinished, it devolves upon their followers to com- 

11 



122 POPULAR LECTURES. 

plete their work. I am the more assured of this, because, first, men 
are as mortal now as formerly; secondly, they are as much sinners ; 
thirdly, their souls are as valuable ; and if our Lord shed his own 
blood for sinners, then surely the souls of sinners are as precious, 
and as worthy of the devotion of our lives now, as of his then : 
fourthly, if the life of the Lord Jesus Christ was given as a ransom for 
souls, certainly we should not value ourselves, our friends, our for- 
tune, talents, or any other gift of God, so highly as to say we are 
not to relinquish it for the purpose for which his life was given up. 
Neither can we say that the great object was effected by his sacri- 
fice, and therefore our sacrifice is not required ; for it is to be ob- 
served, that the effect of his sacrifice was limited in the first in- 
stance to saving those who were his disciples ; and it was by their 
dedication of themselves, and their self-sacrifice, that the world 
was to be converted. It was when Christians began to live at 
ease, and relinquish that entire dedication of themselves, and all 
their possessions, that the progress of Christianity declined ; and 
now that men have ceased to think it their duty to go unto all na- 
tions so soon as they unite themselves to the church of God, they 
will hardly cast of their abundance into the treasury enough to 
keep some few poor missionaries from perishing, and the progress 
of our blessed faith has nearly ceased. When savage nations are 
ready to receive Christ with open arms, and nothing is wanted but 
teachers, we find that faith has so declined in the church, that one 
generation after another of the heathen world perishes in darkness, 
and none are going forth with the glad tidings of the Gospel. If 
some, more zealous than the rest, leave home and friends for the 
kingdom of God's sake, deeming the eternal felicity of their fellow 
creatures of more worth than a few hours, days, or years of do- 
mestic ease and temporal enjoyment to themselves and their fami- 
lies, even Christians often, instead of cheering them on their career 
of sacred self-dedication, and rejoicing that Christ has found a faith- 
ful advocate and a minister, chill, with their icy judgments, the very 
heart's blood of the apostolic follower of his crucified Lord. 

It will be remembered that, from the commencement, I have held 
up Jesus Christ as the standard of moral performances, as I sup- 
pose his Gospel to be the measure of moral principles. I will there- 
fore now forego the appeal that may perhaps be termed a reference 
to religious feelings, and request you to examine the precept, which 
I consider as the basis of all moral obligation, "Men should do 
unto others as they would wish others to do unto them." You are 
in the enjoyment of peace and security; equal rights and privi- 
leges are yours, as members of a civilized community ; your go- 
vernment is based upon the principles of a just equality ; and your 
institutions for learning, your public charities, and the meliorated 
tone of morals, manners, and customs of your country, excite 
your triumph, and you very truly consider your national blessings 



LECTURE XXI. 



123 



as incomparably greater than those of a vast portion of the nations 
of the earth. If Providence, then, has so highly favored your 
country, should you not extend the blessings of civilization and 
Christianity to your fellow-men'? Should you not endeavor to 
communicate to them those arts of happiness, those morals, man- 
ners and customs which have rendered your country so prosper- 
ous ) Reverse the condition of things, and consider well, if you 
were in the savage ignorance and corruption of the heathen na- 
tions, do you think it would be desirable that benevolent men 
should leave happy homes like your present, and go to your assist- 
ance, and instruct you in all that ennobles, elevates, and refines a 
people, and makes them happy ! If you cannot but confess that 
you see it would be most desirable, in your own case, to obtain such 
aid from men, then consider it is an indisputable principle, left to 
your honest application, to ' " do unto all men as you would wish 
them to do unto you," and make haste to fulfil this acknowledged 
duty; for the night of death is before you, the day is short. Nor 
has it a certain period, like the solar day, but its termination arrives 
generally when we are least aware of its approach] Therefore, 
my young friends, be diligent, and delay not to commence a life of 
duty to your fellow-creatures. This is more fully prescribed to 
you in the general terms of this command, " do unto others as you 
would wish them to do unto you," than it could be by particular 
specifications, which could never reach, as this does, to every possi- 
ble case. If you know that, in India, men, women and children 
are sacrificed to Juggernaut and the Ganges, if you know that 
the devil is worshipped in Africa, if you know that the Chinese 
carry a little misshapen stone in their bosom, which they select 
and purchase in a shop, like a toy-shop, and that they pray to that 
stone, you know, that every effort you fail to make to promote the 
knowledge of the true God is a tacit confession that you do not 
value your religious privileges so much as to wish to contribute, 
with all your might, to the dispensation of your faith to the idola- 
trous heathen world. May the Father of our spirits defend you 
from such a distinct evidence of your want of faith, love and cha- 
rity. May you never be confounded in the day of judgment, by 
hearing Christ say, " Depart from me ye cursed — inasmuch as ye 
have not ministered unto the least of my brethren, ye have not 
ministered unto me" Oh ! beware of selfishness ; beware of a low 
estimate of Christian duty ; beware of the insidiousness of sins of 
omission, which corrode the soul like the canker-worm, and leave 
it utterly unfit for the glorious purposes for which God designed it. 

1. What have we that we have not received of God ? 2. Wealth ? 3. Power? 
4. Talents? 5. Time? 6. What will be the question at the judgment on 
this subject? 7. Who was the carpenter's Son here spoken of ? 8. What in- 
duced his disciples to follow him? 9. What apparent contradictions were 
there in his conduct ? 10. Why did they follow him ? 11. What was their 



124 POPULAR LECTURES. 



LECTURE XXII. 

ON THE SABBATH. 

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And 
on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested 
on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed 
the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all 
his work which God created and made." — Genesis, ii. 

That the sabbath was an institution which originated with the 
creation of man, and was to continue a memorial to him for ever, 
of the duty which he owed to God as the Creator, there seems to 
be no reason to doubt. First, Moses asserts it as a fact ; and it 
matters not how he derived the knowledge of it, he is worthy of 
our confidence. But if we want other reasons to believe it, we are 
not without them. First, traces of a sabbath were found among 
all the ancient heathen nations in the earliest times. Could we 
suppose that Moses would have ventured to assert to the people of 
Israel, that God, from the creation, had hallowed, or set apart 
for holy uses, the seventh day, when, if it was not so, every man 
to whom he addressed himself, would have been able to contradict 
and disprove his assertion? But the division of time into por- 
tions of seven days is mentioned incidentally in the narrative of 
the Scriptures, in a way which could never have been imposed 
upon those who must have known to the contrary, if the facts were 
not true, or had not been handed down as true. Anterior to the 
promulging the Decalogue from Mount Sinai, the Israelites are 
stated to have been fed with manna ; and the history introduces a 
sabbath at that time, as if the institution were at least in partial 
observance. "This is that which the Lord hath said, to morrow 

first work ? 12. What seemed to be his object ? 13. "What did he forbid to 
his disciples? 14. Why did he voluntarily submit to be crucified publicly? 
15. What were his disciples to do ? 16. What were they to consider as their 
duty? 17. What did their converts think? 18. When was this self-dedication 
to end in the church ? 19. How do we account for the change in Christians? 
20. What does one perceive who studies the New Testament with an inten- 
tion to perform its requisitions ? 21. How should we do it? 22. How are we 
sure of this ? 23. What farther considerations prove this to us ? 24. What 
was the first means used to convert the world ? 25. When did the progress of 
religion cease? 26. What is the state of the church now? 27. How do 
Christians often act towards missionaries ? 28. If Christ is the standard of 
moral performances, what is the measure of moral duty? 29. What should 
we hold as the basis of moral obligation ? 30. Whit ar* just inferences from 
this principle? 31. Reverse the condition of nations, and what should we 
wish? 32. If so, what should we do? 33 What should young persons not 
delay ? 34. What do we know of the condition of the heathen ? 35. What 
do we prove if we are indifferent to this? 36. What should we beware of? 
37. What effect have the sins of omission on the soul? 



LECTURE XXI§ 125 

is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord ; bake that which ye 
will bake, to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe, and that which 
remaineth over, &c." Here, and in the whole context, you find 
that a sabbath day was already kept as holy unto the Lord, before 
the law was given out, and the people were expected to acknow- 
ledge and observe it. " Six days shall ye gather it, but on the 
seventh day, which is the sabbath, there shall be none." There 
is not the slightest hint of a new command to institute such an ob- 
servance; u it is the Sabbath tc-morrow, and you must not violate 
it." If, as is maintained by Paley and others, the original sabbath day 
was lost, then certainly the Jews must have viewed it as a miracle 
wrought to point out to them, beyond doubt, the true, original sab- 
bath ; since the manna did not appear on a particular day of each 
week, while, on the day previous, a double quantity fell, and this 
for forty years. Moreover, it is very certain that subsequent to 
that time, they paid the most unbounded reverence to the sabbath 
day. The Decalogue, or ten commandments, contains the moral 
law, or a code of duty towards God and man ; necessarily to God 
first, and, consequently, we find the first, second, third, and fourth 
commandments relate to our duty to him. In the first, we have 
the foundation of all true religion, — belief in the unity of the God- 
head. In the second, a corresponding prohibition of the acknow- 
ledgment of any inferior gods. There was not only one true God, 
but there were no acts of reverence, adoration, or prayer, to be ad- 
dressed to any other being in heaven or earth, but this one true God. 
The third commands perfect reverence to be paid to his name; so 
that the feelings of devotion connected with his worship might not 
degenerate, under the corrupt habit of calling upon him, in profane 
conversation and ungodly adjurations. The fourth commandment, 
which is the one we have under especial consideration, may be 
viewed as intended for such a guard upon the previous commands, 
as the tenth command, " not to covet,'"' is upon the moral injunctions 
contained in the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. The tenth, 
for its observance, requires an examination and government of the 
affections, which must inevitably lead to a better observance of the 
various duties to our neighbor, enjoined in the previous. So the 
proper observance of the sabbath secures the performance of our 
duties to God, laid down in the first, second and third. For if men 
will but spend one day in seven, in a sincere and earnest study of 
their duty to God, which infers a deep acquaintance with his divine 
attributes, a consequent love of his perfection, a sense of dependence 
upon him, and a pious apprehension, or fear of coming short of the 
glorious destiny for which he designs them, they will certainly ar- 
rive at a perfection and elevation of character, not attainable in any 
other way, and consequently will be better fitted for the performance 
of all their duties to a holy God. But if the study of God's character 

11* 



126 POPULAR LECTURES. 

and attributes, and of our duty to him, demands a portion of our 
time to be set apart for the purpose, it is farther very evident that 
the preservation of the pure worship of one God has never been 
otherwise effected ; consequently, we are authorized to say, that the 
sabbath was essential to its preservation ; and that the blessed cus- 
tom of giving one day in seven, to the recollection and recognition 
of the unity of the true God, was the ordained, and the successful 
means of preserving to one people true religion, while it was lost 
to all others. In this commandment we have several things to con- 
sider which are calculated to inspire us with the most profound 
respect and ardent affection for its precious influences upon our 
moral nature and happiness. First, as I have observed, that the re- 
gular recurrence of a day consecrated to God, to be employed in the 
study of his character and our relations and duties to him, is the 
only means by which true religion could have been preserved, du- 
ring ages of ignorance and idolatry. That its having had this 
effect, under such inimical circumstances, is an evidence of its great 
importance as a means of enlightening the world, which makes 
it as lasting an institution as the world itself; since it is evident that, 
with all the means that have been or can be used, men do not 
come entirely under the control of religion, and consequently that 
which has been so effectual in preserving the spirit of true religion 
can never be dispensed with. It is the reasonableness of the insti- 
tution which must convince a thinking mind that it is of perpetual 
obligation. First, it is reasonable that men, for their own good, 
and the honor of God, should have a perpetual and continuous 
means of preserving and keeping alive their knowledge of God as 
the Creator and Governor of the world : no other means can be 
proposed which would have that effect, but by the consecration of 
a portion of time exclusively to his service, and letting it be of such 
frequent recurrence, that it could not, under any circumstances, be 
lost sight of. Once understood to be of perpetual obligation, even 
the accidental loss of a sabbath to an individual produces no se- 
rious chasm in the performance of duty ; because the institution is 
going on, and he again renews his appointed services when time 
and opportunity permit, without a long neglect having impaired 
his habitual interest in its duties. If one neglects it, it is kept up 
by others, and remains before the ungodly for ever, as a tacit re- 
proach upon his worldly spirit, and ungodly conduct. To have 
this effect upon society, it must be jealously guarded in its sacred 
rights, by those to whom the world look for light ; " Thou art the 
light in thy house, but if the light that is in thee be darkness, how 
great is that darkness." If the Christian sets light by the obligation 
of the sabbath, he saps the foundation which God laid, when he 
created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh, thereby 
making it for ever an example for his creatures, that they should 
work for six days, and rest from their work on the seventh. The 



LECTURE XXII. 127 

argument made by some, that the sabbath has no longer the force 
of a moral obligation, because the day has been changed, so as to 
render it also the commemoration of a new creation of a spiritual 
state of being on earth, is futile; the object of the Jirst institution 
of the sabbath was, to divide human life into small portions ; and 
to devote exclusively to God, and to the spiritual concerns of man, 
such a portion as God saw fit ; and that this portion should be the 
same for all men ; so that, in the performance of its duties, they 
should of necessity unite, and also that thus it should produce 
the strongest of all bonds of union in a community of feeling, of 
hopes and fears, of penitence and prayer and thanksgiving. That 
they should be kept in unceasing remembrance of the common 
relation in which they stood to God, and be brought to say of each 
other, " Thy home is my home, and thy God is my God." Thus 
we have still in force the natural use of the law, its prescriptive 
authority, as the most ancient of positive enactments, the exalted 
place which it holds in the universal code, (the Decalogue,) which 
was so peculiarly honored above all the national laws, civil and 
ecclesiastical, of the Jewish polity ; and last, though not least, as 
an evidence of its perpetual force, we have in it an exhibition of 
that mercy of God, which should be to man the most precious of all 
his attributes, his parental care for the least of his creatures. The 
master shall lay aside his temporal labors and perplexities, and 
repose his care-worn soul in the bosom of his Father, and refresh 
himself, and gather new strength, in the consideration of that good 
providence of God, which has never yet permitted seed time and 
harvest to fail. He learns to " wait patiently for the early and lat- 
ter rain," and to confess that one may plant, and another may 
water, but God alone can give the increase to their labors. He 
finds himself called upon to imitate the great Jehovah, in extending 
to his dependants a blessed season of rest and refreshment for body 
and soul. " Thy man servant, thy maid servant, thy cattle, and 
the stranger that is within thy gates" shall rest. The Lord Jesus 
was thought by the Jews to have violated the sanctity of the sab- 
bath, and so to have authorized his disciples to disregard it. But 
not so, nor must we presume to do so, unless in our violations of 
the letter, we could with truth say, as he did, " My father worketh 
hitherto, and I work ;" my works are according to the power, wis- 
dom and goodness of God, which I possess without measure, like the 
great operations of nature, which must go on for the preservation 
of man, alike on every day ; neither was it possible for him to vio- 
late it, because he was " Lord of the sabbath," and if he was pleased 
to authorize his disciples to change the day, this would have sanc- 
tioned the substitution of another day for the same purposes for which 
the first had been set apart. He most -explicitly denies that it was 
any part of his mission to set aside the obligation of the moral law ; 



128 POPULAR LECTURES. 

but rather, he says, he came to fulfil it. He fulfils it in his people : 
and we hear him say to one who asked him what he should do to be 
saved : ■ Keep the commandments." The fault of the law was, mere- 
ly, that it was weak in power; therefore Jesus Christ came to bring 
power to the spirit of man, that he might be enabled to keep it; and 
if men were under an obligation to keep the law before Christ came, 
how will he excuse them, if they fail to keep it, when he has added 
the higher import of its commemorating his glorious resurrection, 
and strengthened them for its perfect observance. The only admis- 
sible difference between the observance of the law by the just Jew 
and that of the Christian is, that the Christian does voluntarily, from 
ardent affection for his master, what the righteous Jew did from a 
sense of the duty he owed to God; consequently, the Jew's was a 
rigid, literal performance, which excluded even good works, such as 
healing the sick on the sabbath; while the Christian feels that such 
acts of benevolence are the most acceptable worship he can offer to 
God. Having endeavored to point out to you the universal and 
perpetual obligation of the sabbath, and also that God himself has 
placed it peculiarly upon that great moral principle which I per- 
ceive to be the true ground of moral philosophy, an imitation of the 
Deity, I will recommend to your attention the advice of one of the 
most distinguished men that Great Britain has ever produced, Sir 
Matthew Hale, chief justice of England, who thus expresses himself, 
as to the importance of a faithful observance of the sabbath, in a 
letter addressed to his grandchildren. 

" The more closely I applied myself to the duties of the Lord's 
day, the more happy and successful were my business and employ- 
ments of the week following. So that I could, from the loose or strict 
observance of that day, take a just prospect and true calculation of 
my temporal success for the week following. Though my hands and 
mind have been as full of secular business, both before and since I 
was a judge, as it may be any man's in England, yet I never 
wanted time in my six days to ripen and fit myself tor the busi- 
ness I had to do, though I borrowed not one minute from the 
Lord's day, to prepare for it by study or otherwise ; but, on the 
other hand, if 1 at any time had borrowed from this day, for my 
secular employments, I found it did further me less than if I had 
let it alone. And, therefore, when some years' experience, upon a 
most attentive and vigilant observation, had given me this in- 
struction, I grew peremptorily resolved never, in this kind, to make 
a breach upon the Lord's day — which I have most strictly observed 
for above thirty years. This relation is most certainly and experi- 
mentally true, and hath been declared by me to hundreds of per- 
sons, as I now declare it to you." 

But the whole letter is worthy your study, as coming from one 
of the wisest and best of men. That an appointed time for men 



LECTURE XXII. 129 

to come together, for the purpose of public worship, is necessary, 
must be obvious ; for how else could they unite 1 Some say the 
institution has lost its force, because every day is a sabbath to the 
Christian ; but, were that the case, either all the business of life 
must be broken up, and men must live in the temple, or they could 
never meet there ; all naturally, as it suited their temporal occupa- 
tion, selecting different days and hours for their devotions. It has 
been again too much the idea of the modern world, that the sab- 
bath was merely a day of relaxation. The two purposes for which 
all labor was suspended on the seventh day were equally indicated, 
and both were binding. To give rest to man and beast, that they 
might not be overburdened by incessant labor, and to secure to 
man the high and holy privilege of enjoying, one day in seven, an 
uninterrupted, life of piety and goodness. In the sinless state of 
the pure and fresh creation, when no multiplied relations to a cor- 
rupted world called for other precepts, the sabbath was given as 
the crown and perfection of God's behests to man. " He blessed 
the sabbath-day," and it is blessed, and ever will be. If the Chris- 
tian loves it as a Christian must, then there is no law for love ; but 
the moment he ceases to consecrate it, according to the spirit of 
the institution, from pure affection, then the law comes in force 
again; for love was to anticipate, supersede, surpass legal obe- 
dience in the performance of duty ; and not to overthrow its go- 
vernment, and leave the soul to anarchy. 

In the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, the spirituality of the law is 
fully enforced ; among other things the mode of observing the sab- 
bath, and the great object of it : " If thou turn away thy foot on 
the sabbath, from doing thy own pleasure on my holy day, and call 
the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shall 
honor him, not doing thy own ways, nor finding thy own pleasure, 
nor speaking thy own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the 
Lord, and I will cause thee to ride on the high places of the earth, 
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father ; for the mouth 
of the Lord hath spoken it." There need be no explanation of this 
beautiful passage from the grandest of writers ; it is a clear expo- 
sition of the Christian obligation, to delight in the perfect fulfilment, 
the perpetual and exclusive consecration of the sabbath of the Lord 
to his service. In the Christian church its duties are varied so as 
to increase its pleasures; and the aged Christian, in the sweet 
retrospect of a pious life, will number the hours of the day devoted 
to teaching a sabbath school as among the most precious and the 
most profitably spent upon earth ;, for never does the soul realize 
the nature and extent of its Christian privileges, nor make such 
practical advances in the knowledge of God, as when earnestly 
and affectionately bent upon guiding the lambs of Christ into the 
fold, and feeding them with the bread of life, from a wish to aug- 
ment the glory of Christ's kingdom upon earth ; and that all men 



1 30 POPULAR LECTURES. 

may be brought to a knowledge of the truth, and be made heirs of 
eternal felicity. 



1. When did the sabbath originate ? 2. How do we know this ? 3. When 
do we first find time divided into weeks ? 4. Could Moses have said that the 
sabbath had been hallowed lrom the creation, if it were not so ? 5. Where 
was the sabbath mentioned before the ten commandments were given? 6. 
How were the Israelites commanded to observe it ? 7. How do we suppose 
th'fy knew the meaning of such an allusion to the sabbath? 8. If they did 
not know previously of God's having hallowed the seventh, how must they 
have viewed this order ? 9. How must they have considered the giving no 
manna on the seventh day ? 10. What does the Decalogue contain ? 11. What 
do the first four commandments teach ? 12. What does the first teach ? 13. 
What the second ? 14. What the third ? 15. What the fourth ? 16. What do 
the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth teach ? 17. What is the tenth intend- 
ed for? 18. What would be the effect of keeping the sabbath as is command- 
ed ? 19. How has the pure worship of one God been preserved ? 20. Could 
it have been preserved in any other way ? 21. Why not ? 22. Is the sabbath 
of perpetual observance ? 23. Why can it not be dispensed with ? 24. Could 
any other means be proposed ? 25. When an individual breaks the sabbath 
what renews the obligation ? 26. How should the Christian keep the sabbath ? 
27. If he sits light by it what is the effect ? 28. What is said of the argument 
that the day being changed has destroyed the obligation ? 29. What was the 
object of instituting a sabbath? 30. Why was time divided into weeks ? 31. 
What effect has the religious observance of a sabbath on society ? 32. What 
great attribute of God is most displayed in the institution of the sabbath ? 33. 
How is this shown ? 34. What did the Jews say of our Savior? 35. Could it 
be so, and why not ? 36. Did he abrogate, or only change the law ? 37. What 
did he say to one who asked him what he should do to be saved ? 38. What 
was the fault of the law ? 39. What did he do to enable them to keep it. 40. 
What difference is there between the observance of the Christians and the 
righteous Jews ? 41. Upon what ground does God place the observance ? 42. 
What does Chief Justice Hale say to his grandchildren ? 43. Why is it obvious 
that men must have an appointed time for public worship ? 44. Why cannot 
every day be a sabbath, as some say ? 45. What is too much the idea of mo- 
dern times ? 46. What are the objects ? 47. When does the observance as- 
sume the force of a law to the Christian? 48. What does Isaiah say of keep- 
ing it? 49. What is the Christian obligation? 50. What is added to the ob- 
servance for Christians? 51. What is a great privilege of the sabbath? 52. 
When does the soul best realize Christian privileges ? 



LECTURE XXIII. 1 3 1 

LECTURE XXIII. 

ON THE DUTY OF MEDITATION. 

My meditation of him shall be sweet. — Ps. civ., 34. 

There is nothing more certain than that abstraction of the mind 
from external things is necessary to the exercise of its higher pow- 
ers. A child soon learns, if it has a difficult lesson to study, that 
it must find some quiet spot, secure from interruptions, or external 
things will occupy such a portion of its attention as will prevent 
the success of its most strenuous efforts to learn. A lawyer who 
has a deeply important and intricate argument to make, before a 
court of justice, retires to his study, and spends hours together in 
collecting his facts, arranging and re-arranging his proofs, and ex- 
amining the grounds of his arguments. A member of congress, 
who desires to offer some resolution which will be of vital import- 
ance to the community, gives his undivided attention to meditating 
upon every possible light in which the subject may be viewed, that 
he may pen it so as to conciliate enemies, as well as to secure 
friends to his cause ; and he amends and re-amends his plans to 
avoid misapprehension, before he submits them to the judgment of 
his fellow-men. How imperiously necessary then is it, that, when 
we would communicate our thoughts and wishes to the most high 
God, we should previously meditate much upon the nature of our 
addresses to him. Would we confess our sins, how little do "we 
often realize of the nature of sin in general, or our particular 
offences of commission or omission. But will God be satisfied 
with our taking a superficial view of our delinquencies, and thus 
making to him a confession, greatly inadequate to the actual com- 
mission of sin which he has registered against us ? A friend, in 
whom you greatly confided, has injured you deeply, has accused 
you of some dishonorable act, which your soul abhors ; but you 
love him still, for he was the friend of your youth ; and although 
he has so wounded your affections you would willingly open your 
heart to him, if he would but return, saying, " I repent." After a 
cruel alienation, in which you have grieved more for his fault, than 
for your own injury, he comes to you and commences as you na- 
turally anticipate an acknowledgment of his offence, your disap- 
pointment is then overpowering, while he says, " My dear friend, I 
have come to day to confess that I passed you yesterday very 
rudely, but it was quite unintentional, as I was much engaged at 
the moment, and did not perceive you until it was too late to 
speak." Now, my dear young friends, you are all conscious that 
such conduct would appear to you so trifling as to be highly 
insulting. What ! you would think, you have forgotten the most 



132 POPULAR LECTURES. 

serious offence against friendship and justice ; and you come for- 
mally to make confession of an indifferent accident ! And yet, let 
me assure you, such is probably your own daily conduct to the Cre- 
ator, Benefactor, Father of your souls. You come before him to 
reinstate yourself in his favor, by a confession of your sins, and 
you have never even caused to pass in review before your own mind, 
what you have to confess ; consequently, instead of being filled with a 
proper sense of penitence for having committed sins against a glo- 
rious and good Being, to whom you are responsible, and who re- 
members so well that which you have lost sight of, your spirit is 
slightly moved, and cannot possibly obtain his forgiveness, since the 
carelessness with which you ask it is an additional offence. It is not 
thus with confession alone ; but in preferring our supplication, it is 
absolutely essential that we should reflect deeply upon the subject 
of our prayers. For this purpose we should often bring before 
our minds the many mercies by which we are surrounded, which 
are absolutely ^ssary to our happiness, and the abstraction of 
one of which would make a serious inroad upon our comfort. Let 
us, then, meditate upon the fitness of all created things to promote 
our happiness, and on the misery produced by the loss of any one 
of a thousand blessings which we are scarcely conscious of enjoy- 
ing. We are at present enduring, perhaps with much impatience, 
the rigors of a severe winter ; but we should consider that many 
benefits depend upon this state of things, which are not obvious on 
slight observation. The moral and physical energies are greater 
in cold climates, and the passions consequently are kept under bet- 
ter restraint. Many other desirable effects are produced by cold 
into which we should inquire. We are surrounded, perhaps, by 
pecuniary difficulties ; but, meditating upon the subject, we discover 
that from poverty we have learned humility, and a content which 
we knew not in our prosperity. We may be too young to have 
experienced in our own person the vicissitudes of life ; but very 
little observation and proper reflection will prove to us that, where 
the experience of all mankind can be ascertained, it is often diame- 
trically opposed to the course of our anticipations ; and thus medi- 
tation itself, in many ways, may convince us that we should reflect 
seriously upon every petition before we venture to make it to him 
who knows before we ask what things we have need of; and per- 
haps only requires us to ask that we may become more sensible 
of the many mercies we are accustomed to receive at his hands. 
These slight hints may suggest how we are prepared by meditation 
to make supplication to God. Would we offer praise or thanks- 
giving, certainly every mental faculty must be put in requisition, 
and stirred up to its utmost energies. Natural science should un- 
fold its ample page to furnish us with thoughts worthy of the 
Author of all things. We should consider the anatomy of our own 
bodies, and say with David, " I am fearfully and wonderfully made." 



LECTURE XXIII. 133 

We should meditate upon the still stranger mysteries of our moral 
being, until every power within us is called forth to offer the ho- 
mage of grateful praise to him who made us in his own image, and 
" set his eye upon our hearts, that we might see the glory of his 
works." How dear to us are the hours we have it in our power to 
spend alone with a beloved friend! How sweet the free inter- 
course of affection ! And where we cultivate the habit of secret 
communion with our heavenly Father, it is as much more exquisite 
in its enjoyment, as he is more capable of loving our souls, and 
knowing how to communicate pleasure to them. Did your soul 
ever swell with sympathy as you heard a noble sentiment ex- 
pressed? Did tears of rapture ever burst unbidden from your 
eyes, as you listened to the history of a generous deed 1 How then 
do you feel while the God of nature unfolds to your meditative spi- 
rit the deep-laid plan of moral probation, by which his fallen crea- 
tures have been led through all the devious paths of sin and sorrow, 
while their " sins were made to rebuke them, a. ' .heir iniquities to 
correct them," until a spirit was prepared withm them to receive 
the Messiah appointed before the foundations of the worlds were 
laid. Hast thou contemplated the history of man's first disobe- 
dience, and God's long suffering and great kindness, until the words 
have burst spontaneously from your lips, "Lord, what is man, that 
thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him'!" 
Meditation alone gives us just comparative views of the relative 
importance of temporal and eternal things. To the little, busy, 
bustling essence, a worldly mind, whose restlessness brings it in 
contact at every instant with a new object of interest, a moment 
is its eternity ; and therefore it is, we have that wonderful paradox, 
so constantly exhibited, a being, intended for glory, honor, and im- 
mortality in eternal life, living for the perishing pursuits of mortali- 
ty. But the mind which delights in a continued series of thoughts, 
soon learns to connect its being with a future state, and to estimate 
the superior importance of those things which last for ever, to those 
which shed their ephemeral glories in the passing sunbeams that 
gave them birth. To the worldly mind, the stars are " little patines 
of bright gold." To the contemplative mind, they are animated 
globes, evincing by their forms, their movements, their distances, 
their satellites and luminous atmospheres, that the Omniscient and 
Omnipotent, who made our earth, brought forth the host of them 
together, and provided for them a beautiful equipoise of good. 
Devotion to the insignificant succession of those trifles, in which the 
life of the worldling is for ever spent, makes that next to nothing, 
to nonentity, a nameless trifle. Meditation alone can produce a 
Newton ; and how much more worthy of the God of nature the 
admiraton which a Newton could offer, when deep and careful 
meditation on those phenomena, which pass unheeded in the trifler's 
sight, hacl opened to his cleared vision the long-hidden mysteries of 

\% 



134 POPULAR LECTURES. 

nature's laws. When at once he beheld the glorious orb of day 
swung central in the immensity of space, and measured the harmo- 
nious movements and circling orbits of those whirling balls, all, per- 
haps, like our own, redolent of life and bliss, what must have been 
the emotion which agitated so vast a mind, when such a perception 
burst fully upon it ! How acceptable to the Author of creation the 
reflection of his own glory, thus cast back to him from his crea- 
ture's mind. I can imagine that every energy of the soul might be 
thus suspended by wonder and delight ; and that the vast tumult of 
such great emotions might find no utterance. But God sees and 
delights in beholding the glorious ecstacy of god-like minds. This 
is his highest praise. 

The people of Syracuse thought Archimedes a madman, when 
he sprung undressed from his bath, and ran out into the street, cry- 
ing aloud, " I have found it, I have found it !" And, perhaps, when 
he explained to them that it was not a purse of gold or a diamond 
ring which he had recovered, but an abstract truth that he had 
found, they felt still more convinced he had lost his senses. But it 
was the gratification of intense desire, of knowledge produced by 
the mind's having long revolved anxiously the subject which caused 
him such ecstacy. In this is shown the importance of meditative 
habits. They increase and strengthen the desires ; and a proper 
use or an abuse of meditation is indeed the foundation of vice or 
virtue, wisdom or folly. Did strong passions spring suddenly into 
existence and maturity, they would be comparatively blameless ; 
but the strength they manifest in action is to men the evidence of 
their habitual and undue indulgence. It is graceful, useful and 
pious to weep for the loss of a friend ; but the mind which conti- 
nues absorbed in the contemplation of a sorrow loses the elasticity 
of the animal spirits, and sinks into a hopeless dejection. The long- 
continued entertainment of any emotion of anger or resentment 
gives it a strength, which makes it, at last, the despotic tyrant of 
the mind. This only proves that long-continued and connected ac- 
tion of thought determines the character. If you would be wise, 
think frequently and uninterruptedly upon subjects of improving 
knowledge ; if you would be virtuous, give yourself to meditating 
upon the means of being useful to mankind: if you would be holy 
and heavenly-minded, resign yourself often to solitary musing : 

" And hold high converse with the viewless 
Spirits that walk throughout creation's wonders, 
Hymning their Maker's praise, till sun and moon, 
And all the lesser glories of the sky, on your rapt 
Ear, in spiritual song, pour their united 
Glorious anthems, through the vast, deep 
Vaulted aisles of meditation's silent fanes, 
Where God is present, and the world shut out." 

1. What does a man think necessary who is preparing to bring important 
business before court or congress ? 2. What should we do when we wish to address 



LECTURE XXIV. 135 

LECTURE XXIV. 

DUTY TO OURSELVES. TRUTH. 

The lip of truth 3hall be established for ever : but a lying tongue is but for a 
moment. — Proverbs, xii,, 19. 

I have told you, my dear young friends, that in the active per- 
formance of your duties to God and to your fellow creatures, you 
would always find that you were most faithfully fulfilling your 
duties to yourselves. There is, however, a class of duties which 
deserve peculiarly to be called duties to ourselves. As they are 
preparatory to an entrance into active life, they seem, in the first 
instance, to be directed to, and to terminate in, the actor himself, re- 
flecting back upon him, all the merit and all the benefit produced 
by the action. Of these duties we are now to treat ; and the first 
of them which it is certainly indispensable for you to cultivate is 
integrity or truth. Upon the broad and firm basis of this virtue, 
all others stand. " What is truth 1" said Pilate, when he was re- 
conciling himself to crucify the Man in whom " he found no fault." 
Unhappy, and lost to every thing noble and elevated throughout 
time and eternity, is the mind which has thus lost the lines of moral 
integrity, and doubts even the existence of truth. The mind, per- 
verted by the passions or prejudices of life, like Pilate, sees not the 
landmarks of truth, and loves not to mark her bulwarks ! to walk 
around her towers, and admire her strong works! Who can 
enter the strong man's house ] Who can break down the adaman- 
tine pillars which support the throne of the high and lofty One in- 
habiting eternity ] Did the scornful infidel, when he turned away 
from the wonderful Counsellor, did he save himself from the blaze 
of Qv.gr whelming light which was to break in upon his soul, in the 
hour when all truth should be revealed in the person of him who 
has said : " I am the truth V } God is truth, all truth ; and there is 
nothing true but. Heaven, nothing true but the eternal Source of 
truth, and that which emanates from him. The truth in God is 

God ? 3. If you wish God to forgive your sins against him, what should you do ? 
If we wish to offer supplication what should we do ? 5. What considerations 
fit us for praise ? 6. How do we acquire just views of the comparative value 
of temporal and spiritual things ? 7. What are the stars to a worldly mind, 
what to a contemplative ? 8. What makes a trifler ? 9. What a Newton ? 10. 
What is the highest praise offered to God ? 11. Why did the Syracusans think 
Archimedes mad ? 12. In what is the use or abuse of meditation shown ? 13. 
If strong passions sprung suddenly into existence, would they be criminal ? 
14. Why do men blame them ? 15. What is the effect of long indulgence of 
griefs ? 16. What is the effect of long-continued anger ? 17. What does this 
prove ? 18. If you would be wise what should you do ? 19. If virtuous ? 20. 
If holy and heavenly-minded ? 



1 36 POPULAR LECTURES. 

that principle of integrity, in his being, which makes it impossible 
but that every thing must be really as he says it is. Any thing 
which contradicts his revelation of himself to us cannot be true : 
then, as he has revealed himself to us in his perfect attributes of 
wisdom, power, and goodness, whatever represents him as defi- 
cient in either, is not true. When, therefore, we would argue, from 
an imperfect knowledge of his works, that he has done something 
which is evidently inconsistent with his attributes, we assail his 
truth. When, from reverence for his holy being, we forbear to 
judge those things which are mysterious, from being above human 
reason, we pay a just homage to his immutable truth. " For as 
the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are his thoughts higher 
than our thoughts, and his ways higher than our ways." 

Truth in man is the same principle of integrity. The indication 
to agree perfectly with the reality, is truth, but in man, it can ex- 
tend no farther than to intentions. From his limited faculties he is 
not always capable of knowing the truth. His truth is shown in 
always giving, to the extent of his abilities, correct indications of 
the reality of things, and measuring his thoughts, words, and ac- 
tions by the principles of immutable truth. 

How shall we describe this "white-robed daughter of the skies," 
whose incessant flight, iike the solar beams, is from heaven to 
earth? Still as she descends " on snowy pinions borne," she views 
this globe from afar, through the smoke and vapors of our terres- 
trial atmosphere, and sees, that in the nations, and in the families, 
and the most secret recesses of the human heart, all, all is darkness, 
and the shadow of death. Error and falsehood involve the race 
of man in sin and sorrow : and, from the cradle to the grave, all 
violate the divine attribute of truth without remorse. God is insult- 
ed on his throne by the infant, as he lisps a cunning lie to hide his 
little faults ; and thence, to the hoary-headed sinner, who calls on 
the majesty of Heaven's throne to attest his falsehoods, all seem, like 
Ahab, to have had a decree gone out against them, and to have 
been delivered over to a lying spirit for their sins. 

Daily and hourly, those who have much intercourse with schools 
are shocked to find how little respect is paid by young persons of 
the best education, and highest ranks of society, either to the letter 
or spirit of truth. Falsehood and equivocation seem, in modern 
schools, to be in as much honor, as stealing was in the schools of 
Lacedaemon. If a child commits a fault, the ingenuousness to con- 
fess it, and to bear the penalty, rather than violate the truth, is 
too seldom to be hoped for ; and to deceive, equivocate, and act the 
lie, to shield a- companion from the wholesome discipline of merited 
reproof, is a point of honor. Many are the depraved and vicious 
customs of schools. Such are : prompting slily in recitations ; 
making secret signs to aid others in deception ; concealing the 
truth, and even asserting untruths, to obtain the rewards due only 



LECTURE XXIV. 137 

to a diligence which they have never exercised. Young persons, 
especially young ladies, should reflect, that no amiable or benevo- 
lent end is answered by concealing the faults of a child from the 
friends whose sole object is to train it to virtue and knowledge. 
By doing so, they aid in the formation of idle habits, which must 
end in ignorance and disgrace. These customs, and their effects 
upon the character of the youth exposed to their contagion, are 
equally to be deplored. Even in the nurse's arms, the infant is 
taught the love of the father of lies ; and, oh ! thou gracious Father 
of our spirits ! wilt thou not enable me to persuade those to whom 
thou hast committed the guardianship of infant innocency, to guard 
the germ of the immortal soul, as the gardener protects the roots 
of his beautiful flowers, from the blighting frost ! Wilt thou not 
now infuse into my discourse so much of thy holy Spirit as will 
awaken in the hearts of these, thy young probationers, an ardent 
love for that which forms the very essence of thy Being ; for that 
which is the substratum of all moral existence ; for that which, in 
the angels, must determine every thought, and word, and look. 

To violate the truth, the greatest attribute of Heaven, on the 
most trivial occasions, for the most insignificant purposes, and with 
the remorseless insensibility which many young persons of both 
sexes do, is the saddest evidence of the supremacy of that dark 
power which reigns in the human heart, generating therein evil 
thoughts and evil deeds. The more trifling and insignificant the 
falsehood, the more daring and reckless is the contempt of the ever- 
present and all-seeing God. 

The baneful consequences of the practice of lying are apparent 
in every thing in life. It unhinges society. It is the melancholy 
cause why we all " live in a vain show, and disquiet ourselves in 
vain." The consciousness that the feelings, the principles, and the 
actions of all around may be entirely at variance with their profes- 
sions and appearances ; that the friend or agent you confide in may 
be deceiving you; that the children you are educating may be 
secretly committing acts most destructive to their virtue and hap- 
piness, and concealing them by duplicity ; that the servant in whom 
you trust may be a deceiver ; that the very wife of your bosom 
may be misleading you by falsehood, these are the causes in which 
want of confidence in our fellow creatures originates, and here is 
a source of the most dreadful of all errors, doubt of the character 
of God. We cannot feel that God is so much displeased with 
falsehood, since he permits the liar to offend against him hourly; 
but do we not perceive that he mingles punishment at every step 
with his forbearing mercy ; and are not his punishments more and 
more severe, the oftener the offence is committed ? Does he not 
touch the heart of the young offender with fear and compunction, 
and make him tremble at the thought of having told a lie 1 And if 
he listens to this warning of an uncorrupted conscience, does not 

12* 



1 38 POPULAR LECTURES. 

the holy love of truth, growing up in his generous breast, reward 
him for the exercise of a redeeming virtue ? But if he resists and 
quenches the struggling conscience which accuses him, does not 
God punish him by leaving him to the hardness of his own heart, 
until, more and more indurated, he loses all shame, and becomes 
the jest and the contempt of his associates ! Is not this punish- 
ment? Is not the desertion of his guardian Spirit (whose monitions 
he despised,) punishment 1 Is not the loss of the respect and con- 
fidence of men punishment ! Is not the loss of self-respect punish- 
ment I Yes, God punishes, during the whole course of this proba- 
tionary existence ; and, oh ! then, what rational fears may we not 
entertain of the ultimate punishment of the unrepenting soul, which 
has rejected every means of moral improvement, and destroyed 
the integrity of its own nature. 

There are four distinct modes of violating the truth, each of 
which is equally criminal with the others, in as much as the effects 
of all are equally destructive to human virtue and happiness. Per- 
haps those which are considered most excusable are the worst, as 
they are committed with least scruple, oftenest repeated, and so 
most deeply corrupt the soul : — 

The 1st class, direct lies, are untrue words spoken with an in- 
tent to deceive. 
2d, Deceit or equivocation, true or doubtful words, so used as 

to deceive. 
3d, Acting lies ; so directing your actions as to make, intention- 
ally, a false impression. 
4th, Looking lies ; so regulating your countenance and motions 

as to deceive. 
The first class is considered as so infamous, that a single de- 
tection in it degrades for ever a lady or gentleman, and disgraces 
the most ignorant slave ; yet nearly all children are prone to this 
vice, and but too many grown persons in every rank practice it. 
The second class meets with less contempt from men, because it is 
not always so obvious that deception is intended; but Dean Swift 
gives it additional obloquy, by defining equivocation as a lie 
guarded. The third class — that is, acting so as to deceive — is 
scarcely considered a vice; because, indeed, it is impossible for 
the judgment of man to discriminate the lines between insincerity 
and a lawful prudence which morality prescribes. All have, at 
times, to couceal their thoughts and feelings from a selfish and un- 
feeling world. Every virtuous mind, however, will use the pri- 
vilege of concealment, as they would violate the sabbath, in ca^es 
only of necessity, and then with regret. The last class is the base 
vice of slanderers, especially among that portion of the human race 
emphatically called the world, where, at every instant, envy and 
malice look into annihilation the merit which they dare not assail. 
Youth, beauty, talents, virtues excite this assassin to plunge his 
dagger deep into the vitals of honor and happiness. 



LECTURE XXIV. 139 

As an illustration of the duty of reverencing truth and never 
violating it, even in jest, I will cite to you a beautiful anecdote of 
the celebrated Petrarch. It is recorded of him, in history, that 
from his childhood he had such respect for truth, that nothing ever 
induced him to deviate from it in the slightest degree. What Pe- 
trarch said was implicitly to be confided in, because his yea was 
yea, and his nay was nay. He lived with his friend and patron, 
the Prince of Colonna ; and on some occasion, when the difficulty 
of getting exactly at the truth of some circumstance, which had 
happened, produced an unhappy dissension in the palace, the prince 
found it necessary to administer an oath to every member of the 
household, from which form not even the prince's beloved brother, 
the excellent bishop of Colonna, was exempted. Petrarch, who 
was present at this form, approached of his own accord to take 
the oath, when the prince (wishing to express his high value for 
this uncommon love of truth) refused to administer an oath to him, 
as a test of veracity. But, closing the Bible which he held in his 
hand, paid him this beautiful compliment : " As for you, Petrarch, 
your word is sufficient." 

" If I go away, (says our Savior,) I will send you the Spirit of 
truth," and he shall lead you to all truth. And the radiant Mes- 
senger of divine light descends, and presents to the nations the 
mirror which faithfully reflects the frightful image of their vices 
and their crimes ; and they are rebuked and converted. The fami- 
lies where misery and discord reigned, are taught by the angelic 
voice of truth to put away the lying spirit from among them, and 
submit to her celestial guidance. Individuals, illuminated by the 
brightness of her coming, are as lights themselves, showing to an 
admiring world the true path of virtue and peace, which leads 
gently through the fields of temporal duty to the eternal throne of 
bliss, in the kingdom of glory, honor and immortality. 

1. What duties are called duties to ourselves ? 2. Which is the first of them ? 
3. Why did Pilate ask " what is truth ?" 4. What is God's throne based upon ? 
5. Will Pilate have to acknowledge the truth ? 6. What is truth in God ? 7. 
What do we assail when we believe of him what is inconsistent with his attri- 
butes ? 8. When we forbear 1o judge those things which are above human 
reason, to what do we pay homage ? 9. What is truth in man ? 10. Define 
truth? 11. What end is answered by concealing the faults of children from 
their friends ? 12. What effect is certain to follow ? 13. What does habitual 
violation of truth evince ? 14. What are the consequences of lying ? 15. 
What produces doubt of the character of God ? 16. Why do we not perceive 
that God is displeased with the liar ? 17. How does he punish the young of- 
fender ? 18. What if he listens to conscience ? 19. What if he hardens him- 
self? 20. Is not the loss of self-respect punishment? 21. Is not the loss of 
the respect of others punishment ? 22. Is not the hardening the conscience 
punishment ? 23. If God punishes here, what may we not expect hereafter? 
24. How are lies classed ? 25. What is said of the first class ? 26. What the 
second? 27. What the third? 28. What the fourth ? 29. What subject are 
we to illustrate by an anecdote of Petrarch? 30. What is recorded of Petrarch's 



140 POPULAR LECTURES. 



LECTURE XXV. 

ON THE DUTY OF VALUING AND IMPROVING EVERY MENTAL AND PHYSICAL 
GIFT OF THE CREATOR. X 

And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good. — 
Gen., i., 31. 

Every thing desirable in human existence depends for its pre- 
servation upon the exertions of man himself It is the wise de- 
sign of its Author thus to induce man to become voluntarily an 
active agent. Subject by the laws of material nature to the vis 
inertiae, he is pliysically indisposed to exertion. But, as a happy 
corrective of this tendency of matter, it has been ordered that a 
state of bodily rest should so refresh, invigorate and promote the 
activity of the mental faculties, that during the seasons of physical 
repose the mind brings all things before its judgment, and analyzes 
motives and principles of action, until a full perception of the force 
of some truths leads to new energy in the active powers. If the 
mind of man be strong, healthy, and not perverted or enervated by 
a false education, he can and will (thus cultivating his judgment in 
abstraction from the active pursuits of life) see that there is no- 
thing belonging to his existence, which is not w 7 orth preserving and 
improving for its natural uses. An agreeable exterior seems often, 
on the first reflection, to be even a disadvantage, so often do we 
see it turned to wrong purposes ; but a wise man will not dispute 
that, in the intercourse of strangers, the feelings should be propi- 
tiated by an agreeable exterior ; and this is according to the inte- 
grity of the Creator, who has made an agreeable exterior the na- 
tural index of a happy mind and feelings. But, if a counterfeit 
should now and again pass for true coin, it is only an evidence that 
the coin is of valuable currency. That we should admire beauty, 
and consequently think it, to a certain extent, desirable in ourselves, 
is according to the intention of the Deity. He not only framed our 
senses and mental faculties to observe and delight in certain princi- 
ples of symmetry, but he has created all his works according to 
those principles of proportion and harmony which delight our eyes 
and imaginations. To expand and elevate, to cultivate and enrich 
the imagination are distinct ends proposed in the creation of the 
visible world. A lofty and dignified character is given to the mind 
by contemplating the sublime in nature ; and the eye is so formed 
that the grand and simple outlines of mountains, plains, and ocean 
can be seen divested only by distance of that minutia of detail 

life here ? 31. Relate the anecdote. 32. Who sends the Spirit of truth ? 33. 
How has it come, and what effect does it produce on nations? *34. What on 
families? 35. What on individuals ? 



LECTURE XXV. 141 

which distracts the attention, amid the variety of nearer objects. 
All these features lost in distance, one simple impression of grandeur, 
extended to the utmost limits of the imagination, leaves its vast im- 
press on the mind. Is the fancy to be refined and enriched by tracing 
the complex principles of beauty which, by their fascination, create 
a desire to examine and analyze the minute details of created ob- 
jects 7 Then, in the cool recess of the deep valley of the forest, 
where, glittering like diamonds, the crystal stream comes gushing 
briskly from its rocky bank, or gliding " dimpling o'er its pebbly 
bed," what a variety of exquisite images are brought close within 
the gaze ! Recline on the mossy bank of the little brook, and look 
how beautiful are the chequered light and shade, as the sun darts 
his beams into every opening the quivering leaves have made ; how 
many forms of beauty are displayed in the violet, the orchis, the 
anemone, sweet-briar, scattered around in gay variety ; even the 
mosses and the grasses, and their microscopic tenants ; the ants 
and beetles, the finny tribe, that sport and spring, and dart, and 
glide through the limpid stream ; and now and again some bright 
bird, with its wing of flame, or purest azure, glancing from bough 
to bough, while the breath of heaven is softened into harmony; and 
man, amidst the inexhaustible profusion, himself created to receive 
the full impression of all these images combined, enjoys, from the 
whole, one rich, rapturous sensation of delight. God imparts the 
sense of beauty, and provides for its enjoyment. Who does not 
see that the principles of beauty are as clearly illustrated in nature 
as they are defined in our minds. Suppose an architect, in cor- 
responding positions in the front of a beautiful edifice, should place 
two pillars of different proportions, one the solid Doric, and the 
other the slight Gothic ; no matter how exquisite each of them, 
within itself, they would certainly appear like deformities to the 
eye ; and suppose the human face, with two beautiful eyes, but one 
materially larger than the other. What a deformity! Because, 
contrary to symmetry, which requires, that if things approach by 
resemblance to a certain degree of conformity, they must be per- 
fectly alike, or the comparison offends the imagination. Let us not 
stupidly affect the ascetic. There is no excellence of the soul, nor 
the intellect, no grace of the imagination nor fancy, no skilf of the 
senses nor limbs, no charm of physical beauty that we are not cre- 
ated to value and cultivate, in due degree, as precious gifts of our 
beneficent Creator. The same may be said of all external circum- 
stances ; we are to make good use of them all. Family connex- 
ions are highly important in the active business of life : this should 
stimulate us, for the sake of our connexions, to maintain an honora- 
ble reputation. Wealth, to a certain extent, is power, and power 
is the ability to do good or evil. Education is mental wealth; 
health, bodily strength, and activity of animal spirits, are all most 
precious possessions ; even gracefulness of motions is essential to 



142 POPULAR LECTURES. 

that agreeable exterior of which we have spoken. What are called 
personal accomplishments, by promoting health of body, and in- 
creased activity in the animal spirits, become subservient to the 
interests of morality. 

The only point, in this highly interesting branch of our inquiries, 
in which there seems to be a Gordian knot is the means by which 
we shall, for the practical purposes of life, enforce upon youth, in 
just degree, the use of those things which, from the fervor of the 
animal mind, they are disposed to abuse by excess. Where a new 
spirit of piety is infused into the heart of youth, which is ever 
prone to enthusiasm, there is naturally inspired a contempt for 
every thing in which the connexion with the highest interests of 
the soul is not obvious, and a generous aversion to those things 
which seem most to operate against them by their attraction. They 
are not only ready, if the good of the soul calls for it, to pluck out 
a right eye, or cut off a right hand, but they are impatient, in the 
spirit of martyrdom, to do so ; and often pluck out the right eye of 
useful knowledge, and amputate the right hand of virtuous labor. 

To learn, early in life, to value every gift of God, mental and 
physical, according to its proper purposes, is the great desideratum 
of a virtuous education. How shall we teach a young lady to be 
careful of her complexion, and the erectness of her figure ; to pre- 
serve her soft flowing hair and the delicacy of her fair hands ; not 
to make, habitually, ungraceful, sudden movements of her limbs ; 
and carefully to guard against contortions of her features, &c, 
without heating the cockatrice's eggs which are wrapped in the 
film of her warm imagination ! 

The only possible means is, to teach first this great truth, that 
the sovereign Lord, the everlasting God, "vritt for all these things 
bring- us into judgment. He made nothing in vain ; and he will not 
have us despise or abuse any thing which he has made. We 
should measure the true value of every thing by this rule. Fust, 
those things should stand highest in our estimation of which the 
beneficial bearing upon the moral character of man is most evident. 
Such are, first, moral and religious education and society ; second, 
intellectual culture, especially such as trains the mind to think cor- 
rectly ; thirdly, the respect and esteem of wise and good men . 
fourthly, the means of influencing men generally for their highest 
good; and, lastly, all those adventitious circumstances of rank. 
wealth, personal accomplishments, &c, which may be made to aug- 
ment our usefulness. It is very evident, (admitting the position, 
that nothing which God has bestowed upon us is to be under- 
valued any more than overvalued,) that it is a positive duty to im- 
prove as well as preserve our natural advantages. It is a duty 
to bring every quality, mental and physical, with which God has 
endowed us, to its intended perfection. Dance then, until your 
gay hearts bound with your elastic limbs ; chase the painted but- 



LECTITRE XXV. 143 

terfly over the flowery lawn, until the rich vermillion of your 
cheek shows that nerves and muscles, and heart and arteries, 
and veins are all in high and healthful action; brush your waving 
tresses into smooth folds over your placid brow ; consult, for one 
short instant, the faithful mirror ; and see that a beautiful neat- 
ness pervades every point of your simple dress. This is all that 
virtue and intelligence desire of exterior graces. A truly sen- 
sible and elevated woman would blush to be suspected of a low 
and savage propensity for finery ; and a modest woman would 
blush to think she had ever made it an object to attract the ad- 
miration of men, by exhibitions of her figure in dress; or by 
the voluptuous display of her personal charms in the immodest 
movements of the waltz or gallopade. 

Dignity of mind, after all, is what gives grace and beauty to 
the countenance and manners: and this we may perceive by 
personification, which always exhibits the moral qualities by cer- 
tain lines of the pencil. When we read or hear of a very lovely 
character, how naturally we picture to ourselves a characteristic 
appearance and manners. Take the Lady Jane Grey, for in- 
stance ; read the description of a visit paid to her by her tutor, 
after her marriage, and tell me if her countenance was not beau- 
tiful, if her movements were not graceful, if her manners were 
not refined, gentle, and elegantly simple, unaffected as the infant 
in the nurse's arms ? Could you not paint her if you had the 
skill of a limner? But hers is the charm of youthful beauty in 
misfortune. Then read the letters of Lady Rachel Russel, and 
tell me was she not graceful, elegant, and beautiful too, in the 
matronly gravity of her widow's dress? Why do you imagine 
she was beautiful and graceful? Because these are natural asso- 
ciations with nobleness and elevation of mind- An American 
gentleman, residing in Paris at the period of the revolution, had 
imbibed, he confessed, strong prejudices against the lovely Marie 
Antoinette. He had believed the worst slanders of her enemies. 
One day, the memorable 16th October, 1793, he was dressing 
with his window open ; he heard an unusual noise, looked out, 
and a cart was passing with the queen in it, surrounded by a 
miserable rabble. He immediately left the house, and followed 
the cart to the place where they had prepared a scaffold for her 

execution. Curiosity induced Mr. F to approach as near as 

possible to this most extraordinary spectacle. He stood near the 
cart, as it approached the scaffold, and a wretched butcher-like 
savage stepped into it, and offered to assist her from it. She 
gently motioned him to stand aside ; and, stepping on the scaf- 
fold, 'with an angelic expression of serenity, of pious humility, 
peace, and modest firmness, laid down her head to receive the 
fatal stroke from the executioner.' The narrator said, many, 
many years had rolled over him, amid scenes of incessant 



144 POPULAR LECTURES. 

change and most soul-harrowing interest, yet did her image still 
remain stamped upon his memory, as that of the most lovely, 
most injured, and most virtuous of women ; and nothing could 
since have ever persuaded him that she was not an angel. Such 
is the inseparable connexion between dignity of mind and grace, 
and elegance of manners and appearance. Cultivate, then, your 
hearts and minds, to improve your manners and countenance ; 
avoid peculiarities ; improve all your natural advantages each in 
due degree ; and the necessary result will be, that you will com- 
municate pleasure to all with whom }*ou associate. Your influ- 
ence will be equal to your virtues ; and, blessing and blest, you 
will enjoy your existence as it was intended by the Creator for 
his most favored creatures to do. 

1. What is the corrective of the tendency in matter to vis inertiae ? 2. 
Upon what principles has the Deity created his works ? 3. How is a lofty 
and dignified character given to the mind? 4. What do the rules of sym- 
metry require ? 5. And how is this illustrated ? 6. Should we not cultivate 
in a due degree our physical and intellectual endowments ? 7. In what re- 
spect are family connexions important? 8. Wealth? 9. Education? 10. 
Health? 11. How do personal accomplishments serve the interests of mo- 
rality ? 12. What is the great desideratum of a virtuous education? 13. By 
what rule should we measure the true value of every thing ? 14. What ad- 
vantages should rank highest in our estimation ? 15. Secondly ? 16. Thirdly ? 
17. Fourthly? 18. Lastly? 19. Is it a positive duty to improve our natural 
advantages ? 20. What above all gives grace and beauty to the countenance 
and manners? 21. Do we not naturally associate grace and beauty with 
nobleness and elevation of mind? 22. What anecdote is related of Marie 
Antoinette ? 23. What will be the results of improving in a due degree 
your natural advantages ? 






LECTURE XXVI. 145 



LECTURE XXVI. 

ON ENTERING UPON THE PRACTICE OF EVERY DUTY, SO SOON AS WE ARE 
CONVINCED OF ITS MORAL OBLIGATION. 

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. — Eccles., ix., 10. 

There is no subject, my dear young friends, of more vital im- 
portance to your happiness in life than that, to which I am now 
about to invite your most serious attention. 

The evil spirits in man are said to have perceived and acknow- 
ledged the divine character of the Lord Jesus. " What have we to 
do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?" From 
which you see evidently that a perception of the truth, and an obe- 
dience to its commands, may be completely separated. Indeed, 
there are few persons in the world who do not know their duty 
much better than they practise it. I would, therefore, endeavor to 
make you sensible of the imperious necessity for entering upon the 
performance of every duty so soon as you admit its obligation. 
In the first place we have evidence in every thing in life, to prove 
that whatever we would do well, we should do often. See the 
little maid plying her needle with such beautiful accuracy and ra- 
pidity ; take it from her skilful hand, and place it in those of a Pa- 
ganini, he who performs such miracles with his flying fingers on 
the violin, and the child would smile at his rude attempts to sew. 
Go listen to Clay or Webster, in the courts or councils of your 
country, chaining and riveting the attention of the fickle crowd to 
some abstruse subject, for days, by the powers of their reasoning, 
the extent of their knowledge, the charms of their eloquence. Had 
they not blundered on perseveringly, for many a day, with a, b, c, 
and a-b ab, and many a weary column of Old Dil worth, never would 
their names have adorned the annals of their country's history. If 
in every thing else man is obviously the creature of habit, and 
does that best which he has most diligently practised, in nothing 
is this more certainly true, than in the performance of moral duties. 
" Bring up a child, (says Solomon,) in the way he should go, and 
when he is old he will not depart from it." His habits are then 
confirmed ; what he has been accustomed always to do, he will do 
readily, and willingly, and easily. You may suppose the contrary is 
proved by the irregularities and excesses of many men, who have 
been restrained in early life. I do not regard them as instances, 
but the contrary of that which I propose. They never were ac- 
customed, from childhood, to act from virtuous principles. They 
never had it impressed, from their infancy, upon their hearts and 
understandings, that it was^isgrace and destruction to forsake the 
pure, and honorable, and fair and lovely principles of moral truth, 

13 



146 POPULAR LECTURES. 

and plunge themselves into the horrid filth of sensuality. They 
never appreciated the importance of acting on the least, as well as 
the greatest occasions, from the same perfect rule of right. They 
never thought how slight a friction upon the hard surface of the 
clearest glass destroys its polish and transparency. But you, my 
young friends, are called upon now, before your habits are irrever- 
sibly confirmed, to commence the incipient exercises, which are 
to ground you in the performance of the art of holy living. You 
are, perhaps, a ready musician; do you remember when you 
strummed, for weary hours, at the gamut ! You are a Latin or 
Greek scholar ; when your ear dwells with delight upon the de- 
lightful rhythm of those measured tongues, do you not revert to 
the toil of declensions, and conjugations, with which your studies 
as a linguist commenced ! You have perhaps followed Newton or 
Herschell in their astronomical computations, and can smile to 
think how once you venerated the old saw of school boys : " The 
rule of three puzzles me," and would really have been arrested by 
the " Pons Asinorum," had you not felt a terror of its awful name. 
Such, no doubt, and much greater, are the difficulties of laying the 
foundations of virtuous habits ; but determine to commence with- 
out delay, and persevere through every difficulty, and a certain 
and noble success awaits you. Every victory you obtain over a 
sensual propensity, every step you advance in the formation of a 
virtuous habit, will bring with it a certain and immediate gratifica- 
tion to yourself. You cannot exercise forbearance and self-denial 
in the least trial, without feeling rejoiced that you have done so. 
You cannot give a cup of water to a companion with whom you 
reside, much less to a suffering fellow-creature, without remember- 
ing it is the fulfilment of a Christian's obligation. You cannot over- 
come an indolent propensity to neglect of order or neatness, or any 
of the small proprieties of life, but self-approbation will prove to 
you that you have done well. 

Consider, then, to day, and every day, what virtues you can be- 
gin to practise ; whether you cannot perform some external duty, 
or acquire some internal grace and perfection ; or, at least, cor- 
rect some idle, selfish, vain, vicious temper, or habit of mind. Are 
you perfectly truthful ? Or do you feel conscious, that you have a 
habit of exaggeration, or slight misrepresentations ] Are you pa- 
tient, and gentle, and forgiving in your temper ; or do you easily 
yield to provocation, and show a proud and resentful disposition ? 
Are you industrious, and regular in the performance of your daily 
obligations ; or do you idle away in procrastination the time ap- 
pointed for action 1 Begin each one, I entreat you, to correct in 
early life the faults you discover in your character and conduct, 
and every day will see you grow in grace and favor with God and 
man. And, in process of time, praise and honor shall crown your 
useful life, and eternal bliss await you in a glorious resurrection. 



LECTURE XXVI. 147 

As the first step towards qualifying yourself for the performance 
of every other duty, to obtain a knowledge of yourself is absolutely 
essential. Labor, then, to gain self-knowledge. 

In no way is self-knowledge so perfectly obtained, as by under- 
taking the regular performance of particular duties. You have, 
perhaps, been told of a bad habit ; you have unconsciously become 
selfish ; you habitually prefer that others should suffer more, rather 
than yourself suffer less. Undertake to cure yourself of this fault, 
and watch closely, to see what progress you are making. Every 
day you become more conscious of the difficulty of eradicating 
evil propensities from your heart. Thus you attain to excellence 
in self-knowledge, and from self-knowledge you learn self-control ; 
for no sooner are we fully aware of being exposed to danger, than 
we are at once placed on our guard, and defended against sur- 
prise. Nor can we imagine that any one could be indifferent to 
faults that they fully perceive. The least observation of life is suf- 
ficient to show us that self -knowledge, although the most indispen- 
sable to our happiness, is the most difficult to obtain of every kind 
of learning which it is permitted us to possess. We perceive, at 
every moment, the disadvantages under which persons labor from 
not seeing themselves as others see them. Every human being has 
the capacity to fill some place in life with credit and profit, if, by 
an accurate estimate of his own powers, he knew exactly what to 
aim at. But talents which would make a respectable man of bu- 
siness are often thrown away in futile efforts to become a poet or an 
orator. Women, who have sufficient intelligence to make excellent 
domestic characters, excite the ridicule of the world, by vainly 
affecting the manners and accomplishments for which they are ut- 
terly unfit by nature. How important then is self-knowledge, and 
if it may be obtained, how important that we should acquire and 
use it. The method of ascertaining truly our own capacities is, 
by using the greatest exertions to make acquirements, and compar- 
ing the success of our experiments with that of others who are 
admitted to have excelled. This, in intellectual attainments, may 
generally be best done by measuring ourselves with men who 
have arrived at celebrity. For this purpose biography affords an 
invaluable criterion. In an estimate of our moral worth we should 
never be contented to reach any lower standard than that of our 
Savior. Because, as the Scriptures justly say, " comparing them- 
selves with themselves, they are not wise ;" since it will take off 
nothing of our misery in eternal destruction, though the whole 
world be lost with us; and it cannot make that which is wrong, 
right, though the whole world should agree to do it. We are to 
be judged by Christ, and we are to be measured by that which has 
been communicated to us of the will of God. Therefore, we should 
continually bring ourselves and our actions to the test of compa- 
rison with the character and actions of our Lord ; and never be 



1 48 POPULAR LECTURES. 

satisfied, until we are in this world as he was, since such is his 
command. Nor will the consciousness that we are not yet like 
him, ever cause us more anxiety than is sufficient to keep us press- 
ing forward towards the mark of the prize of our high calling, un- 
less indeed we are disposed to retrograde. If we begin to compare 
ourselves with those who set their hearts upon earthly things, and 
live at ease, without aiming at that high and exceeding holiness 
which God expects from us, then we may begin to despair of im- 
provement, and think it impossible to do what others do not even 
attempt, while we undervalue our capacity to do well ; we may 
learn to overvalue our low performances, because we find our- 
selves sustained by comparison with those who have done still less. 
Thus, my young friends, you are again forcibly called to the per- 
ception, that in your relations to the Creator are found the only 
practical means of acquiring a correct knowledge of your moral 
character, and that your intellectual powers can be estimated only 
after they have been brought into that action which their Creator 
intended for them. Latent powers' may be developed by experi- 
ment, as the electric and galvanic agencies have been discovered ; 
but the great principle of self-knowledge is to draw just conclusions 
from our experiments on our own mental powers, and neither to 
overvalue nor undervalue our capacity ; but to remember, that the 
intellect is an expansible principle ; and that by aiming at high and 
noble objects, we shall expand and elevate our spirits. Would we 
bring our minds to the test to know whether we are all that we 
are capable of being : the first question is, do we desire and strive 
after knowledge and virtue, after elevation of mind, generosity of 
sentiment, purity of heart ! for, until we do so, we cannot possibly 
tell of what we are capable. With these hints I leave you to com- 
mence a labor, without which you can never excel ; and I entreat 
you to remit no efforts to obtain that without which you will be for 
ever aiming at what you cannot attain, and neglecting that for 
which you have been created ; and so exhibit a sad spectacle of 
wasted powers and neglected studies. 

Self-control is the necessary result of a thorough acquaintance 
with our own faults and deficiencies. 

'« Would some power the giftie gie U3, 
To see oursels as others see us!" 

Is the humorous exclamation of the Scottish poet, and if we were 
as fully impressed with a perception of our faults and deficiencies 
as others are, who impartially observe us, we should make the 
most strenuous efforts to overcome such as, from blindness to our 
own defects, we now overlook, or do not strive against Could 
we see how odious pride, or vanity, or anger, peevishness or self- 
ishness make us to all who see those traitsin us, we should never 
rest until we had overcome them, as enemies to our virtue, happi- 
ness and respectability. 



LECTURE XXVI. 149 

Let me then, my young friends, prevail upon you to resolve 
here, on this occasion, that you will make good resolutions with 
regard to the regulation of your lives, and take every means of 
detecting, by experience, any latent disinclination or indifference 
in your hearts to the restraints of moral principle. By this you 
may best estimate your character, and discover in yourselves the 
depravity of the natural man. Drag the base traitor from the 
darkness in which he lurks, and you will soon be able to consign 



him to the fate he merits, and find the noble and genei^s affec- 
tions restored to their happy dominion, and your sol^^alking 
heavenward, in the paths of peace and pleasantnes^ 

1. What is said of the importance of this subject? 2. May not a percep- 
tion of the truth and obedience to it be separated ? 3. How soon should we 
enter upon the performance of our duty ? 4. What have we evidence of in 
life ? 5. How is this illustrated ? 6. In what is it most certain that man is 
the creature of habit ? 7. What is said of the vices of those who have been 
restrained in early life ? S. What will be the effects of exercising forbear- 
ance ? 9. What is the first step towards qualifying us for the performance of 
every auty? 10. How is self-knowledge best obtained? 11. What do we 
learn from self-knowledge ? 12. What is said of the obtaining of self-know- 
ledge ? 13. How is the ridicule of the world often excited ? 14. What is the 
method for ascertaining our capacities ? 15. How may this be done in intel- 
lectual attainments ? 16. What affords an invaluable criterion for this ? 17. 
What should be our standard of moral worth? IS. How will we be judged 
and measured ? 19. What will be the effect of comparing ourselves with 
worldly people ? 20. Where are found the only means of acquiring a know- 
ledge of our moral character ? 21. What is the analogy between latent powers 
and galvanic and electric agencies ? 22. How shall we expand our spirits ? 
23. What is the first question ? 24. What would be the result if we could see 
ourselves as others see us ? 25. How may we best discover our natural de- 
pravity ? 



13* 




150 POPULAR LECTURES. 

LECTURE XXVII. 

ON TEMPER AND PATIENCE. 

Let your moderation be known unto all men. — Phil., iv., 5. 
By patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honor and immortality. — 
Rom., ii., 7. 

I. TEMPER. 

No word in the human vocabulary should be better understood 
than temper ; and certainly no word is more vague or more misap- 
plied in common usage. The misapplication of words is a more 
serious evil than most persons suppose, as it often leads to a misap- 
prehension of the moral principle which they express. Temper, in 
its original signification, means moderation, or such a mixture of 
opposite qualities as produces a happy medium. When we say heat 
is tempered, we mean that it is moderated ; when we say metal is 
tempered, we mean that its hardness is moderated ; when we say 
mortar is tempered, we mean that different ingredients are so 
mixed as to produce a proper consistency. This is the literal use 
of the word; and the figurative sense necessarily corresponds with 
the literal. In ethics, temper, strictly used, means such a balance 
of moral principles as produces equanimity of mind. In common 
parlance it means the ordinary habitual state of the feelings, when 
not particularly excited or depressed by external things ; as when 
we say, " Keep your temper," we mean, preserve your usual mode- 
ration, be not unduly excited. Then, when the ruling predominance 
of some one principle gives a peculiarity to the habitual temper, 
such a principle qualifies the temper, and we are said to have a 
passionate temper, a phlegmatic temper, an enthusiastic temper, an 
indolent, an impatient temper, &c. As these qualities are seen ha- 
bitually to preponderate in our dispositions, and such expressions 
mean no more than that our temper is subject to be habitually dis- 
turbed by pride, anger, peevishness, &c, certainly the perfection of 
the human mind is in such a beautiful balance of qualities as allows 
no one to obtain undue preponderance over the others. We be- 
lieve of God, that his justice controls his mercy, and his mercy 
tempers his justice ; and all our religious opinions are founded upon 
faith in this perfect balance of his attributes. So benevolence in 
man should be restrained by justice, justice should be tempered by 
mercy, zeal should be moderated by discretion, cautiousness should 
be stimulated by zeal, pliability should derive inflexibility from in- 
tegrity, and integrity should relax its rigidity of requirement to 
charity. In the small, sweet courtesies of life, which are " lovely 
and of good report among men," selfishness producing a cold tem- 



LECTURE XXVII. 151 

per, irascibility producing an irritable, petulant temper, morbid sen- 
sibility producing a fretful temper, pride an arrogant or imperious 
temper, vanity a frivolous and unstable temper, &c, are all equally 
defects to be deplored. Endeavor, then, in your exercises of self- 
examination, to discover your ruling excesses; and where you 
find yourselves too much under the government of one, endeavor 
to bring into active exercise its counterbalancing quality ; so will 
you acquire that beautiful equipoise of moral principles which will, 
like the atmosphere of the temperate regions of our earth, be pro- 
ductive of the richest and most abundant fruits. And remember 
that, when you travel upon our globe, towards a tropic sun, the 
productions of nature become more and more delicious to the 
senses ; so, as the moral temperament approaches towards the in- 
tense fervors of passion, although dangers are multiplied and in- 
creased, the virtues are ripened into richer perfection. Fear not, 
therefore, to bring your moral principles under the genial influence 
of feeling ; and think not that by reason alone you can mature a 
fine moral character, any more than you could ripen the fine 
oranges of Florida in the stern climate of Vermont or Maine. It 
is upon temper that human happiness in this life depends almost 
entirely, because it is generally from the undue influence of some 
one peculiar quality in ourselves, that we find our peace and enjoy- 
ment interrupted. 

Who has not observed the effect produced upon the usefulness 
and happiness of men by temper. Even the Christian's high ener- 
gies and elevated principles are often comparatively useless, from 
disagreeable peculiarities of temper ; and the warmest affections 
and most valuable talents and. acquirements fail frequently to save 
their possessors from the dislike and ridicule of those in whose 
eyes they are degraded by a selfish, passionate, or morose temper. 
It is not therefore enough that we study to practise what are 
usually called high principles, truth, justice, honor, honesty; for 
temper is the medium through which we see all these our moral 
principles ; and if this medium is distorted by passion, or colored 
by prejudice, we see every thing we contemplate in a false and to- 
tally different light, from that of those who witness our conduct. 
While we deceive ourselves with the conceit that we are acting a 
high-minded and noble part, and maintaining our rights and inde- 
pendence, we are often but objects of pity, and perhaps contempt, 
to those who are looking calmly on. Every one may have observed 
of common and defective glass mirrors, that your own face appears 
well enough to you in them ; but if another approaches behind and 
looks over your shoulder, you are struck immediately with his or 
her distorted image ; while yours appears equally distorted to the 
other person, and his or her own seems perfect. Just so does every 
one perceive with disgust the effect of bad temper in another, al- 
though they are quite unconscious of it in themselves ; and can 



152 POPULAR LECTURES. 

even mistake so far, as to imagine that to be becoming and grace- 
ful in them, which is ugly and disagreeable, to say the least of it, 
in others. 

When a habit of ill temper has been acquired, it is very difficult 
to become sensible of the fault, and almost equally so to correct it. 
The only effectual method is, to restrain all expression of our sen- 
timents and feelings, until we have consulted our interests. If we 
are so weak as not to be able to put a strong curb upon our 
tongues, and bring ourselves into subjection, it is idle to talk about 
principle, for those who have no control of their feelings are the 
sport of accidents and external things. Every thing that happens 
overturns their resolutions ; every enemy that chooses makes them 
the terror and ridicule of society, and degrades them from the rank 
of moral agents, to that of fierce or irritable animals : while, on the 
contrary, an exhibition of superiority in this respect procures for 
us the confidence of all who witness it, as it indicates the supre- 
macy of judgment and principle in our characters, and so proves 
us fit to be trusted with the happiness and welfare of others. 

When I say we should wait until the ebullitions of passion have 
subsided, and then consult our interest, I do not mean the mere 
temporary interest of obtaining the approbation and respect of 
those who witness our self-control ; but I mean that all the advan- 
tages are then on our side, when our judgment has a temperate 
hearing, and can suggest exactly what is best to do under existing 
circumstances, and when our feelings of self-respect and virtuous 
forbearance have obtained the victory over pride and anger, and 
enable us to preserve a beautiful equanimity governing all within 
us, as a brave and skilful commander of a ship, by increased ac- 
tivity, coolness and self-possession, weathers the tempest which 
would have overwhelmed the agitated mind in dreadful ruin. 

There is no expression in the human countenance so beautiful 
and attractive as that communicated by habitual suavity and gen- 
tleness of temper ; we naturally esteem it as the evidence that our 
own happiness will be safe in the love or friendship of one who is 
not subject to the dangerous vicissitudes of an unequal temper. 

The motives, then, to the formation of a well regulated temper 
are, first, that it is godlike, and, consequent^, must conduce to our 
obtaining the favor of God ; secondly, that it gives us an honorable 
advantage over others, where we have a difference with them, 
should they betray a want of it ; thirdly, it produces immediate 
self-approbation ; fourthly, it makes us pleasing in the eyes of our 
fellow creatures ; and, finally, fits us for that state of peace, love 
and harmony which is reserved for the children of God in heaven ; 
and which should be the habitual motive in all our conduct upon 
earth. 



LECTURE XXVII. 153 

II. PATIENCE. 

Whtn we speak of men moderating every principle of their 
beings, it is evident that we mean human, not divine principles. 
There is no possibility of our approaching too near to perfection, 
or to that felicity which God reserves for the perfect. We cannot 
have too much love or too much patience and humility. " Be ye 
enlarged" is the command of our religion ; and the grand import 
of this text is, that we must not be satisfied when our moral quali- 
ties have attained to the growth of which the man of the earth is 
naturally susceptible ; but, in the spirit of Christ, being grafted into 
him, and having his strong root to nourish our virtues, we must 
go on to the full measure of the stature of the perfect man of 
grace! "Learn of me," said our blessed Lord, "for I am meek, 
and lowly of heart." " He gave his back to the smiters, and be- 
fore his accusers, as a lamb, he was dumb, and opened not his 
mouth ;" he even suffered the traitor Judas to kiss him as a signal 
to his murderers, without resenting this unparalleled outrage. The 
Scriptures represent throughout the Deity as possessing infinite 
patience. " Oh, my people, wherein have I wearied you 1 What 
more could I have done for you, that I have not done," is the lan- 
guage of Divinity to sinful man ; and when the human mind is so 
raised and spiritualized as to be able to exercise this divine grace, 
it produces a heavenly serenity, which proves its origin and 
rewards its merit. One of the happiest influences I ever expe- 
rienced from human example was at that period of my life when, 
carried along by the tide of fashion and folly, I spent my winters 
in the city, in the restless and unsatisfying search for pleasure, in 
which are universally engaged 

" The gay, licentious crowd, 
They who their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth, 
In wanton, oft in cruel riot waste ;" 

And returned with summer to the country, to brood over fancied 
cares, and " listless drone the joyless hours away." In a wood, 
close by the river's brink, stood an old hovel, into which the piercing 
wind, as it swept along the surface of the stream, found entrance 
through every board. There lived an old fisherman, with his wife 
and five children. The man was utterly unprincipled. He drank, 
and when he had taken but a small portion of liquor, he was appa- 
rently kind and good-humored ; but he, like every other habitual 
drunkard, never could cease drinking until, overpowered by excess, 
he would sink down to slumber away the effects of his intempe- 
rance, and wake up a surly, passionate brute. His wife was a 
gentle, unoffending, patient being. For twenty years she had suf- 
fered all that mere bodily ills could inflict. She had been subject 
to abscesses, by which almost every joint in her frame had been 



154 POPULAR LECTURES. 

started from their sockets, and rendered inflexible. Her hips were 
dislocated, her elbows, even her fingers were stiff, distorted and 
scarred ; for in all the joints of her hand she had had the stme im- 
postumation. In the winter she had generally a return of the dis- 
ease ; and it was attended with the severest chills : so that when, 
with every effort, in our comfortable dwellings, we could scarcely 
(though young and healthy) endure the cold, this poor diseased 
creature was shaking in her wretched shed, with all the rigors of 
the congestive ague. She had never been handsome, although her 
features were delicate, and her eyes blue, clear, and soft ; but her 
complexion, which had been naturally fail*, was dyed of the most 
sallow hue. I visited her frequently, and respected her uncomplain- 
ing piety, and her industry, for she managed to sew and knit with 
her stiff and twisted limbs. I respected her desire to bring her 
children up religiously, and her unvarying patience with her un- 
worthy husband. One day, (when I had known her for years with- 
out her ever having uttered a murmur,) she sent for me. She no 
longer even attempted to hobble, (as she had been accustomed to 
do,) across her cabin floor, but, dressed by her daughter, she was 
placed by her son in her comfortless seat, in which she sat knitting 
all the day. Her eyes had failed from weakness, so that she could 
no longer enjoy the comfort of reading the common print of her 
cheap Bible. When I took my seat by her, she burst into tears : 
and now the burthen of her heart was discovered. Her husband 
had grown more and more intemperate ; her boys were growing 
up ; and she could not see him destroy his own soul, and endanger 
theirs by his vicious example, without remonstrance. But, instead 
of listening to her, he had even struck her, and often threatened to 
put her to death, that he might be relieved from the burthen of main- 
taining such a helpless, useless creature. She had reason to fear 
for her life ; and she said she thought it had become a duty to dis- 
close the truth, that he might be prevented from committing such a 
crime. He was her husband, he had once been kind to her, and it 
grieved her heart to expose him ; but she dared not conceal his 
conduct any longer. She did not fear to die, but a death of vio- 
lence by her husband's hand was too horrible to think of. I wept 
with her, but gently endeavored to turn her thoughts to the conso- 
lations of religion, when I beheld a mild beam radiating from her 
pale face ; and looking intently before her, as if her thoughts were 
passing directly forward into another and a better world, she said. 

" Oh ! yes, Miss M- , I often think that there is no one in this 

world who has so much to be thankful to God for, as I have." I 
gazed at her in surprise and silence; when she earnestly and 
slowly added, as if her mind was running through the vast sum of 
her earthly afflictions, " To think how much trouble he has brought 
me through." I returned home that day with a new spirit within 
me ; and whenever since I have been disposed to complain of my 



LECTURE XXVII. 155 

lot in life, I have remembered that lowly saint. I sent her a soft 
and comfortable couch, which I had just had made to lounge on 
myselL>with a large Testament, and prohibited her brutal husband 
to come on the estate. But, for twelve long years, she had still to 
toil through the tribulation of the saints, before the Lord saw that 
patience had perfected her work; and then he took her to her ever- 
lasting rest, in the bosom of light, and life, and immortality. 

Ye who are fretting daily, at every trifling vexation, remember 
Mary Tucker, and " in your patience possess ye your souls." 

1. To what evil does a misapplication of words often lead ? 2. What is the 
original signification of the term " temper?" 3. What do we mean when we 
speak of heat being tempered ? 4. Metal ? 5. Mortar ? 6. What does tem- 
per mean in ethics ? 7. In common parlance ? 8. How should the qualities 
of the human mind be balanced? 9. What should we aim at in our exercises 
of self-examination ? 10. What is that which usually disturbs our peace and 
enjoyment ? 11. What is the medium through which we see our moral princi- 
ples of truth, justice, honor, honesty ? 12. What if the medium be distorted ? 
13. What is the effect of our bad temper upon others? 14. What is the best 
method of correcting our ill temper ? 15. What is the effect of superiority in 
this respect? 16. In what sense is it that we are to restrain the expression of 
our feelings, until we have consulted our interests ? 17. What is the effect of 
habitual gentleness of temper upon the countenance ? IS. What are the seve- 
ral motives to the formation of an amiable temper ? 

II. — 1. What do we mean when we speak of men moderating every princi- 
ciple of their being? 2. What is the grand import of the text, "Be ye en- 
larged?" 3. How do the Scriptures represent the Deity ? 4. What is the effect 
of exercising this divine grace ? 5. By what anecdote is this illustrated? 



156 POPULAR LECTURES. 



LECTURE XXVIII. 

MANNERS. 

Be courteous. — 1 Peter, iii., 8. 

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS I 

No subject, probably, more nearly concerns your happiness than 
the one upon which I am about to address you. Little, I suspect, 
have you been in the habit of considering manners as identified 
with moral and religious principle, with all that is noble and gene- 
rous in sentiment, or amiable in temper, indeed, it is possible, that 
some of you have felt a contemptuous disregard for manners, and 
have associated the idea of attention to the small, sweet courtesies 
of life with insincerity or meanness. Such associations, however, 
are equally and unfortunately unfounded, being produced by a mis- 
take as to what is meant by manners ; unfortunate, because they 
deprive those in whose minds they exist of the most refined and 
exquisite enjoyments of life ; and because they destroy a certain 
test of the existence of better things in our minds. The mistake 
has arisen from a want of discrimination as to the compound na- 
ture of man in whom we are too apt to look for all good qualities, 
when we have ascertained that some exist, and to deny all, when 
we perceive his deficiency in any ; whereas, his qualities are sepa- 
rable, and must each be cultivated separately, or he may obtain 
great eminence in some and be left sadly deficient in others of 
equal importance. Manners are the outward expression, by words 
and actions, of the habitual character of the mind and heart. That 
they are not so without exception is no proof that they are not ge- 
nerally so ; and most certainly the exceptions prove the truth of 
the general rule ; because where false indications in the manners 
lead us to think a person very charming, when in fact they are the 
contrary, it is because the reality of the amiable quality expresses 
itself uniformly by the manner which is here imitated for the pur- 
pose of deception. Hypocrisy, says some one, is the homage 
which vice pays to virtue. She, in assuming her exterior, acknow- 
ledges her superiority. So, when the worldly and unprincipled as- 
sume the manmers which are natural to the high-minded and vir- 
tuous, they admit that they are forced to do so to obtain the esteem 
which all desire, and nothing but virtue commands. The manners 
of which we should be emulous are such as denote the qualities of 
heart and mind, which adorn, dignify, and endear man to his fellow- 
creatures. Virtue is the first quality which should be expressed in 
the manners ; secondly, intellectual powers and accomplishments ; 
and, thirdly, generosity and sweetness of temper. By virtue I 
mean such moral principles as form the deep foundations of human 



LECTURE XXVIII. 157 

character, and are not liable to be moved. Truth is the corner- 
stone of all moral character, and expresses itself in an elevated 
simplicity of manners, which, desiring no deception, and seeking 
no disguise, looks and speaks composedly and unaffectedly. Candor 
expresses most charmingly and gracefully this lovely virtue. Be- 
nevolence is the next most heavenly virtue ; and, consequently, it 
imparts almost a divine charm to the manners. The polished courtier 
may suppose that his smooth exterior will pass current for the virgin 
ore ; but it can only be with the superficial observer, on a slight 
acquaintance. It may be, that such a man cultivates a sort of sua- 
vity of feeling, which is but a refined selfishness, and this his man- 
ners will express. But the generous exemption from selfishness 
which leaves the mind free to engage itself warmly in the feelings 
of others, it is not possible long to feign. Benevolence soon dis- 
covers, by intercourse with man, that the great sum of human 
happiness depends upon what are called trifling comforts and 
pleasures. It early learns, therefore, to consult the feelings, wishes, 
inclinations and comforts of all around, high or low; never to be- 
tray, by violations of the exterior of difference, a disregard of their 
self-love. The word "lady" is said to have originated in the pleasure 
which some benevolent women of rank in England experienced in 
collecting the poor, on certain laydays or holidays, and personally 
serving them with soup and bread. The kind feeling which sug- 
gested this amiable pleasure became so associated, in the minds of 
men, with the gentle courtesy of polished females, that the common 
people, in the warmth of their gratitude, conferred the title of lady 
on every woman of gentle, kind deportment, who seemed anxious 
to contribute to the least comfort and enjoyment of others. Who 
can doubt that gentleman is a term which originated in the same 
way ; and, by-the-by, 



" A king may make a belted knight, 
A marquis, duke, end a' that;" 



But lady and gentleman are titles of moral nobility which the 
king and queen may be denied, by their lowest menials, and with- 
out which, their crowns and sceptres expose them to disagreeable, 
rather than honorable distinction. To the truly benevolent, those 
who have fewest enjoyments, and are most dependent, should be 
the first objects of kindness ; and if courtesy is kindness, we 
should surely not rob them of the little modicum which they crave 
in a gentle look and a gentle word. Besides, such treatment tends 
to elicit the best feelings in those who receive it, and opens their 
minds to higher moral good ; while the jealous obduracy produced 
by forced submission to the haughty assumption of superiority, 
closes the human heart against every effort to improve it. Intel- 
lect communicates a thousand charms and graces to the manners. 
First, the air of natural loftiness, with which intellectual power or 

14 



158 POPULAR LECTURES. 

force expresses itself, gives dignity to the manners ; and, as wit 
adds brilliancy, and imagination enthusiasm, every modification 
of talent or indication of genius varies and adds graces to the 
manners. Virtue, however, and intellectual charms will lose much 
of their lustre, if a temper, characterized by generosity and sweet- 
ness, preserves not the beautiful balance of moral developements. 
Dr. Johnson was a man of great intellectual powers, and some 
strong virtues; but he had never cultivated those gentle graces of 
the heart which give sweetness and modesty to the temper ; and 
consequently, with all his learning and humanity, he was " self- 
sufficient, rude and vain." 

Who does not know the peculiar distinctions of manners attribu- 
table to the different professions ! Can you mistake a chemist for a 
clergyman ; not a clergyman of the established church of England, 
but a minister of one of those denominations in which general 
education is not considered as a requisite in the ministry. In these, 
an exclusive cultivation of the religious feelings produces, accord- 
ingly as it acts upon the proud or the meek, the enthusiastic or the 
phlegmatic temperament, the manners of arrogant self-righteousness, 
simple piety, ardent fanaticism, or worldly profession. How pre- 
sumptuous are the manners of a man under the dominion of feel- 
ings which he has not analyzed, and cannot analyze, and in which 
yet he has the most implicit, though unfounded self-confidence. 
Who does not know, by true instinct, the genuine manners of an 
eminent physician, or man trained, by incessant labor of body and ' 
mind, to patience, and, by the continued contemplation of all the 
deep secrets of human misery and sin, to a chastened pity for man- 
kind ; by the hourly calls of want to active charity ; by the sudden 
and unlooked for results of his professional experiments, to a vigi- 
lance and energy combined with a doubting cautiousness and 
anxiety, all these habits and exercises of mind and heart, combined 
and well balanced, produce a compound effect on the manners, par- 
taking of the active energy of the man of the world, the serious 
reserve of the student, and the gentle suavity of the domestic man. 
In this noble profession, should the animal and the moral nature be 
elevated by piety, the perfection of human character, and neces- 
sarily the acme of human manners, might be exhibited. I will not 
pretend to trace all the evidences and illustrations of my theory of 
manners, but I hope you are by this time prepared to permit a cor- 
rection which I am disposed to make in the old adage, 

" Manners make the man," 

For which I would substitute, 

" Manners show the man." 

Nor do I admit that the gross mistakes of precipitate or crude 
judgments affect the truth of my propositions. A man who ob- 



LECTURE XXVIII. 



159 



serves but superficially, and acts without caution, may be cheated 
with a bad dollar ; the bank officer, however, will soon point out 
to him the certain marks and external distinctions by which he 
may know the false coin from the true. 

Cultivate then, my young friends, the virtues, talents, and tem- 
pers, which form an elevated, useful, and pleasing character, and 
let the natural expression of your thoughts, sentiments and feel- 
ings, pervade your exteriors. In youth, modesty, benevolence, 
and a grateful desire to return, in every possible form, the many 
blessings which you owe to your fellow-creatures, will produce a 
sweet pliability, intelligence, modesty and courtesy of manners, 
most pleasing in youth ; while a growing confidence in increasing 
powers, and a knowledge and interest in the business and high 
pursuit of man will gradually add ease and dignity to your deport- 
ment. 

View with contempt the mean and frivolous affectation which 
shows itself in a childish aping of the studied contortions, the 
mincing gait, the languishing air, the dandy fooleries of the gaudy 
ephemera, who flutter through their brief hour of beauism and 
belleism, on the glittering scene of fashionable life. If your mind is 
highly cultivated and stored with information, your conversation 
will be delightful to any society; if your temper is modest and gen- 
tle, you will be engaging to the best feelings of others ; if you are 
warmly interested to make others feel happy and amused, you will, 
in forgetting self, be divested of awkward restraint, and acquire a 
freedom and ease of manners in which true grace consists. In 
connexion with this part of my subject, I would remind you, that 
many physical habits, from expressing a slight disregard towards 
those present, or a little indifference to their approbation, are justly 
considered as violations of good manners ; such are the postures 
expressive of languor and indolence, lounging in two chairs, or 
putting your feet against a wall, shuffling, yawning, spitting, &c, in 
boys ; and in girls, giggling, wriggling, eating with avidity, flounc- 
ing into a room, and pouncing upon a chair, as if fearful of not 
getting the best seat, contortions of limbs and features, and a thou- 
sand other little childish tricks impossible and unworthy to enume- 
rate, and which each individual must detect and correct in them- 
selves, or they will serve, like dust on a diamond, to obscure the 
greatest worth. A little dust will for ever conceal the brightest 
jewel, unless it is carefully wiped away. So will disagreeable pe- 
culiarities in manners and habits, if suffered to adhere to it, hide the 
splendor of the finest mind. 

I feel that I am writing for a republic ; and that it is a peculiar 
bliss of my yet happy country, that a nameless orphan, found in the 
streets, and educated by charity, may, by the acquirement of ele- 
vated virtues and intellectual accomplishments, attain to the high- 
est dignity, charms, and graces of manners, which form " the Co- 



160 POPULAR LECTURES. 

rinthian capital of polished society." Stir up then, my young 
friends, your pure minds fervently, and let us aim at nothing lower 
than a transcendent superiority of our country in manners, as well 
as morals, over the whole civilized world ; and, believe me, we shall 
then have this supremacy granted, when all have successfully stu- 
died the Christian character ; for it has been long an established 
maxim, that the most perfect Christian is the most perfect gentleman. 

1. From what does the mistake with regard to the importance of manners, 
arise? 2. What definition is given of manners' 3. Why in this case do ex- 
ceptions prove the truth of the general rule ? 4. What is said of hypocrisy ? 
5. What is the first quality which should be expressed in the manners ? 6. 
Secondly? 7. Thirdly ? 8. What is the corner stone of all moral virtue ? 9. 
What two qualities best express this lovely virtue ? 10. Upon what does the 
great sum of human happiness depend? 11. In what is the term lady said 
to have originated? 12. Upon whom did the common people confer this title? 
13. Who should be the first objects of kindness to the benevolent ? 14. What 
are the effects of courteous treatment ? 15. What of a haughty assumption of 
superiority? 16. What is the effect of intellect upon the manners? 17. In 
what graces was Dr. Johnson deficient? 18. What is said of manners as 
shown in the different professions ? 19. What effects will modesty, benevo- 
lence and a desire to please, produce upon the manners ? 20. How are we to 
be divested of awkward restraint in our manners? 21. What physical habits 
are justly considered as violations of good manners ? 22. What is the peculiar 
privilege of our country as a republic ? 23. Who is the most perfect gentle- 
man ? 



LECTURE XXIX. 



161 



LECTURE XXIX. 

ON CULTIVATING THE ESTEEM, AFFECTION, AND FRIENDSHIP OF MANKIND. 

Ointment and perfumes rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness of a man's 

friend by hearty counsel. — Prov., xxvii., 9. 
Thine own friend, and thy father's, forsake not.— Prov., xxvii., 10, 

My DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS I 

If we go back to the original signification which we gave to the 
words " moral philosophy," the science of human happiness, and 
especially to ethics, as that branch which treats of the conduct ne- 
cessary to be pursued to secure our own happiness and that of our 
fellow- creatures, we shall be at no loss to understand why God has 
established different degrees of the same social affections as the 
bonds of society. We shall see why we are to cultivate one de- 
gree, which we call philanthropy, in our relations to all mankind 
without exception; another and higher degree, which we call 
friendship, with individuals towards whom we have intimate per- 
sonal attachments, and lastly, the highest, love or domestic affec- 
tion with our own family. The right use of the principle, which we 
call philanthropy, is in the Scriptures called charity; and it is 
placed by holy writ above every other virtue, in so much that all 
others are said to be nothing without it ; and there is little difficulty 
in determining why it is so exalted, because we have long since 
admitted that, next to the love of God, it is the only pure and noble 
principle of action. If of action, then of feelings for it is very 
certain that our happiness is inseparably connected with our duties, 
and that it cannot be said that any one duty is enjoined upon us, 
by nature or revelation, which has not the immediate reward be- 
stowed upon it, of contributing to our happiness. This is a distinct 
evidence of its being the will of the Governor of the universe, who 
can and does reward those who perform his will. This, then, again 
affords us the measure of our indulgence in the love of human ap- 
probation, esteem and affection : for then only it permanently con- 
duces to our enjoyment, when we feel it to be exactly commensu- 
rate with our charity and beneficence. Like every other excess, it 
becomes a source of many miseries and vexations, when we desire 
more than is attainable by just means. The true way to obtain 
the esteem and affection of men is steadily to direct our efforts to 
merit it ; and, both for their good and our own, we should never 
voluntarily permit our virtues to be so obscured by false appear- 
ances, as to lessen our usefulness, by destroying our influence and 
example. Pride has led men to boast of an unnatural contempt for 
the opinions of their fellow-creatures ; but for their own sakes we 
should never willingly permit them to misunderstand our actions, 

14* 



162 POPULAR LECTURES. 

and attribute to us base and unworthy, where we are conscious of 
virtuous motives. 

The usual error, however, into which men fall upon this subject, 
is to desire more than is due to their services ; and rather to de- 
ceive men by false appearances into bestowing undue praise and 
adulation, than to place their desires below their deserts. Upon 
what principle they act can be understood only by considering how 
every natural appetite increases by excessive indulgence ; and how 
the vanity of men is shown in pursuing extensive gambling specu- 
lations, upon a false credit ; and how they pride and delight them- 
selves in obtaining the reputation for wealth and other human dis- 
tinctions, which they are conscious of not possessing. 

The office of philanthropy is to extend every possible good, 
without distinction, to human beings, wherever or whatever they 
may be ; and man is a philanthropist exactly in proportion as he 
labors to do this. The philanthropist will make it his business and 
his pleasure to study every method by which he can do so, and to 
increase, by the acquirement of useful knowledge, his power of do- 
ing good ; and he will be prepared to extend the offices of friend- 
ship to men whom he finds worthy, whenever he is brought, by 
outward circumstances, into closer personal intercourse with them. 
Friendship, however, must be always distinguished from philanthro- 
py, by its requiring reciprocation and congeniality of principle and 
feeling. It is not limited by any other relations. The high and 
low, the rich and poor, the learned and ignorant may enjoy the 
pleasures which belong to this bond of union. Friendship is a 
sentiment so holy, so conducive to our good, as well as to our en- 
joyments of existence, that no one who feels it, as God intends it to 
be felt, can persuade himself that it will not be eternal as the soul 
itself. Next to the idea of higher and more perfect relations to God, 
we naturally consider the greatest enjoyment of a future state to con- 
sist in an intercourse of friendship with kindred minds. How power- 
ful must then be the influence of this principle upon our earthly happi- 
ness, when we are so firmly convinced that it merits to be transplant- 
ed into that holy, happy state, to which we attribute all that we can 
conceive of endless beatitude. Let us then strive to understand 
and cultivate this, the purest, the most beneficial, and most perma- 
nent of all the blessings which the Creator has conferred upon us. 
as members of that social body with which he has united us by 
natural and inseparable ties. Philanthropy requires that we should 
love men as ourselves ; and thousands of martyrs have sacrificed 
their present and temporal comfort, perhaps life itself, to the good 
of those with whom they neither hoped nor desired to have per- 
sonal intercourse. Such was the motive which operated upon the 
heroic and generous spirit of Mrs. Judson, when she preferred to 
remain alone, amidst all the horrors of Burmah, rather than aban- 
don the feeble hope of doing good to its wretched, depraved, and 



LECTURE XXIX. 163 

idolatrous inhabitants. In the cultivation of friendship several im- 
portant points are to be considered ; first, the choice of a friend, in 
which nothing is more unwise than to permit chance to direct us, 
as is often the case. Family connexions, accidental associations at 
school, a pleasant walk or a pleasant talk are often foundations 
enough to produce a friendship, upon which the happiness or pros- 
perity of a lifetime or an eternity might depend. When we consi- 
der the great pleasure and profit to be^jlved from the possession 
of true and virtuous friendship, and tn^Wany dangers and snares 
into which a false or imprudent friend may draw us, I need scarcely 
say, that there is nothing more important than that we should 
found our friendship upon such principles as may insure its perma- 
nence. Perhaps the best and surest rule to be given, in selecting a 
friend, is to choose them by such qualities as will gain admittance 
into heaven : thus shall our friendship never die. Then, too, we 
shall be certain to have one to aid and sustain us in every conflict 
we have to go through, in our own probationary labors. Again, 
we should endeavor to form our closest friendship with one whose 
stronger and more mature judgment may correct our defective or 
erroneous opinions, and whose faithful, yet delicate heart, will nei- 
ther consent to our doing wrong, nor wound us by needless seve- 
rity of reprehension. Our friend should, if possible, possess talents, 
genius, and information more expanded, and tastes similar, but 
more refined, than our own ; so that, in our constant intercourse, 
our minds may be continually improving ; and they should be so 
disinterested, that when trials come, (as come they will,) we may 
be certain to find them near, to soothe our sorrows and partake 
our griefs. Having so chosen a virtuous, intelligent, and amiable 
friend, it will become our happiness through time to open our souls 
to the full stream of warm affections ; to depend, with undoubting 
confidence, upon their truth ; and to lean, with fond dependence, 
upon the bosom of our dearest earthly friend. How much sin and 
misery would be avoided, did every young person feel the import- 
ance of this advice ! 

What a contrast to this description is presented by the loose and 
unprincipled associations, falsely termed friendships, by the thought- 
less and reckless beings who commit themselves for purposes of 
folly and vice, encourage each other in sins which end in death, and 
desert and betray each other, when danger or distress approaches. 
How many means of human felicity are wasted; how many hours, 
days, and years of sweetest enjoyment are neglected for what may 
be justly termed merely a gregarious sociability, or a still more 
limited excitability of the propensity of adhesiveness, under the in- 
fluence of which frivolous, heartless, and perishable intimacies are 
seen to rise, shine and disappear in society, (like the hydrogen bub- 
bles on the surface of some stagnant pool,) brought into view by 
their levity, corrupting the moral atmosphere by their folly and 



164 POPULAR LECTURES. 

vice, and destroyed by their inherent want of consistency. I beseech 
you to weigh this matter well, now, in the morning of life. The 
heat and burthen of the day is approaching in which all possible 
aids will be necessary to carry you safe through the unseen trials 
which await you. It will then be too late to select friends, for 
friends are more and more valuable in proportion as they are long 
tried, and bound by the ties of early habit ; and it is during the 
sweet pliability and waniMonfiding generosity of youthful feelings, 
that the most durable impressions are made on the heart. It is 
then that friendships are to be formed, which shall withstand every 
trial of conflicting interest, of opposing passions, of years of ab- 
sence and interrupted intercourse, by the vivid memorials of early 
endearments. And remember, that after a long life of mutual kind 
offices, it will gild and adorn the evening of your existence, if the 
mild rays of friendship encircle, like a halo, your aged head ; and 
when the parting hour arrives, you will still stay upon the kind 
tear, the gentle countenance, the encouraging and cheering voice, 
of one who through life, and in death, has been your faithful and 
ever cherished friend. 



1. What is the highest degree of the social affections » 2. Next? 3. Next? 
4. What is the right use of philanthropy called in the Scriptures ? 5. What is 
said of this virtue ? 6. Why is it thus exalted ? 7. What reward has every 
duty enjoined upon us bestowed upon it ? 8. When does the indulgence of 
love of human approbation, esteem, &c, become a source of misery ? 9. What 
is the true way to obtain the affection of men ? 10. What is the usual error 
into which men fall ? 11. What is the office of philanthropy ? 12. How must 
friendship be distinguished from philanthropy? 13. In what do we naturally 
consider the enjoyment of a future state to consist ? 14. What does philan- 
thropy require ? 15. What points are to be considered in the cultivation of 
friendship? 16. What motive actuated Mrs. Judson? 17. What would be 
the surest rule by which to choose a friend ? 18. What should our friend pos- 
sess ? 19. When are the most durable impressions made upon the heart ? 



LECTURE XXX. 



LECTURE XXX. 



LOVE AND MARRIAGE. 



165 



And the Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone : I will make him 

a help meet for him.— Gjrtjii. 18. 

My dear young friends : 

You will perhaps receive with a smile the subject on which I now 
propose to address to you a few words of admonition and advice. 
I have heard it said that some philosophers, in Paris, being anxious 
to ascertain at what age human beings cease to be susceptible of 
the passion of love, sent a deputation to consult the experience of 
an old lady upwards of a hundred years of age. She answered, 
with considerable resentment at the insinuation, that they must go 
to some one yet older ; for she found herself quite as susceptible as 
she ever had been. In the society of the cities nearer home, we 
shall not be at a loss to find ample evidence that early youth, nay, 
childhood itself, has also its susceptibility ; so that, from the cradle 
to the grave, all feel the mighty power of love. Nor is it easy to 
decide which, to unconcerned spectators, is most a subject of cen- 
sure and ridicule : the amorous smiles of a grandmamma, or the 
tender passion of the precocious granddaughter, bursting from the 
restraints of hard and tasteless, but essential studies, to try the fan- 
cied bliss of early love. 

For you, should I merely excite in you that flippant propensity, 
which teaches, according to Pope, 

"Little hearts to flutter at a beau," 

I shall be greatly disappointed ; for my aim at present is to con- 
vince you, that all intercourse between the sexes, founded upon 
such affection as a brother may not feel for a sister, should be re- 
strained to one object ; and that there can never be two men in ex- 
istence, at the same time, who can truly boast that they have re- 
ceived confessions of love from one lady, without more or less dis- 
grace being attached for ever to her name. How extremely careful, 
how fearful ought young ladies to be of entangling themselves in 
a first flirtation. How many vain regrets follow a hasty act of in- 
discretion, and how, in her inmost soul, should a woman own a 
burning blush of shame, when, in return for the valued proffer of 
a noble heart, and the generous sentiment of a high-minded lover, 
she is constrained to feel that the confessions of affection, which he 
is receiving as the greatest boon of life, she has before made to 
some unworthy being, who can smile at her husband, and say, she 
loved me first, and owned it to me. These remarks are directed 
against that most pernicious custom of our country, by which the 



166 POPULAR LECTURES. 

sources of the richest enjoyments of the social being are closed in 
early life ; and feelings which are implanted in the human heart, to 
consecrate it as the sanctum sanctorum of holy and happy domes- 
tic duties, are withered in the unnatural excitement of precocious 
passion, while the fine sensibilities of the soul are worn away, in 
puerile and childish flirtation, before there is a capacity developed 
to understand the na tma o f genuine love. Marriage is the only 
honorable end proposeKfc the pursuit of the passion ; and mar- 
riage is a most important and irreversible act, which, although ori- 
ginally instituted for the happiness of the human race, is, under 
existing circumstances, the source of pain, regret, and cares innu- 
merable, and uncompensated to the mass of mankind. Happy 
would it be, if young persons could all soon be made conscious 
how much better it is to remain for ever unmarried, than to marry 
under any circumstances but those of such love as is rarely heard 
of in the present age. 

Virtuous love, when mutual^and fortunate, as it is the most per- 
fect bond of union between human creatures, being sentiment ex- 
alted by the warmth of passion, passion spiritualized by the purity 
of sentiment, is also the sacred source of all those ties which bind 
the heart of man to home ; and home may truly be termed the trea- 
sury of human virtue and felicity. What a bankrupt is that being 
who has no home ! — from Byron, on his dying bed, surrounded by 
mercenary minions, watching to gather up the tainted fragments of 
his loose, coarse thoughts, to sell as relics to a cheated world, down 
to the low, besotted beggar, victim of vice and idleness, from whom 
men turn, with loathing and disgust. And if home is the treasury, 
who is the treasurer of this rich fund of blessings ? Will not wo- 
man say, 'tis man, in whom 

" Benignly blend 
The sire, the son, the kinsman, husband, friend ?" 

And will not man, in grateful recollection of all the sweet endear- 
ments of domestic life, confess that woman is the ministering angel 
of his existence ! It is your pleasing duty, my young friends, to 
take a retrospective view of the mutual exercise of domestic vir- 
tues in your own beloved parents, (if you have been so favored as 
to have such,) and in"* the consideration of the homefelt bliss you 
have seen their all-enduring tenderness, their patient suffering, and 
virtuous labors confer upon each other and their happy households. 
You will find motives for renewed and increased energy and dili- 
gence in the labor of education, that you too may be prepared, in 
the future maturity of wisdom and virtue, to extend to equally for- 
tunate mortals the richest blessings of domestic life. And you will 
be in no haste to lop off the sources of mental and moral culture, 
which are preparing you, by a high cultivation of your nature, for 
a more elevated performance of duty, and a higher enjoyment of 



LECTURE XXX. 



167 



rational pleasure. You will rather fear to lose any advantage of 
a liberal education, and dread lest, by hurrying rashly, unprepared, 
into the highly responsible engagements and complicated duties of 
married life, your connexions may prove fatally injudicious, and 
your own principles, judgment, temper and talents utterly inade- 
quate to the preservation of your influence or the security of your 
peace and felicity. 

Young women should remember, that after the period of "Love's 
young dream" has passed away, they will desire to possess the re- 
spectful confidence, to be the rational companion of the educated 
and intelligent men, whether fathers, brothers or husbands, with 
whom tlrey are connected by the ties of strong affection. And 
young men, in selecting companions for life, with whom are to be 
deposited all their best and sweetest enjoyments, betray their own 
dearest interests, when they are governed in their choice by the 
perishing charms of mere physical beauty — I will not say personal 
charms ; for the charm which mental accomplishments, virtue and 
sweetness of temper, cast around the manners and diffuse over 
the features, is the most exquisite kind of beauty. 

We shall not lose our time by spending a few moments in consi- 
dering the revolutions of customs and opinions, upon the subject of 
marriage, that we may have just apprehensions of the moral obli- 
gations connected therewith. Because, then, in the ages and na- 
tions wherein the appetites possessed uncontrolled sway, sensuality, 
in seeking to multiply its pleasures, sacrificed, with vicious selfish- 
ness, the sacred deposite of the domestic happiness of families, to the 
inclinations of voluptuousness. Marriage rites, among civilized 
nations, have been established and guarded by laws, and thus have 
come to be considered merely as legal contracts. In this very false 
and ungrateful estimate of the highest privileges and blessings of 
human existence, we have only another evidence of the deep and 
indelible injury incurred by the human race, in the early corrup- 
tions of natural institutions. The tie of love was but the effect of 
natural inclination in our first parents ; and habit and mutual good 
offices, especially care and fondness for their children, added other 
and more enduring bonds of union, each anxious to promote a de- 
pendent happiness, which was identified with their own, fearing to 
lose the supreme affection in which their own felicity was garnered 
up, they were taught by love that they had but one common inte- 
rest in existence. 

It was when vice had corrupted the human heart, that this holy 
state of marriage disappeared ; and it came to be considered as the 
means by which the stronger sex appropriated to themselves the 
personal charms, and inherited wealth, of as many miserable women 
as each individual, by fraud, force or purchase, could get into his 
possession. This unnatural and cruel state of bondage, substituted 
for the free exchange of mutual love, brought with it the jealousies 



168 POPULAR LECTURES. 

and hatreds, among the several families of the same household, so 
faithfully exhibited in the history of the patriarchs and kings of 
Israel. When the advantages of restraining marriage to one indi- 
vidual came to be understood, human laws interposed ; but, alas ! 
human laws could not bring back the bliss of Eden, the intercourse 
of pure, uncontaminated affection. Both men and women have 
learned to crush, in its first budding, the delicious flower of love ; 
and cultivating, in its place, the rank weeds of pride, vanity and 
ambition, have come to consider marriage but as the legal form by 
which they may barter themselves for gold, or power, or worldly 
pleasure. Unhappy mortals ! little do they know that the gold, the 
power, and the pleasure, are but empty pageants, cheating the soul ; 
while the untiring zeal, the unslumbering patience, the vigilant ser- 
vices, the rich and exquisite sympathies of unbounded and undying 
love, would comfort in every grief, sustain in every misfortune, en- 
courage in every labor, and augment and elevate every enjoyment 
of existence. So far we have but pointed your attention to the true, 
natural institution of marriage, and have spoken with the grateful 
respect, which every gift of God merits, of the blessing of that prin- 
ciple of our being which forms the precious bond of domestic life. 
The moral uses, however, of marriage, or the union by matrimony 
of one man to one woman, are much more extensive than the in- 
considerate perceive, or the unprincipled care for. The same be- 
nevolent Creator has given to most animals, especially the little 
birds, an inclination to pair : and if we study the principle of na- 
ture which teaches the feathered tribe, in gentle union, to gather 
sticks to build a nest, and when the mother, with wondrous patience, 
nestles incessantly over her warm eggs, teaches the mate to sing 
from some near bough to cheer her solitude, and frequently to take 
her place with kind solicitude, that seeking food may give her 
healthful recreation, and when the helpless little objects of their 
mutual hopes appear, teaches them to divide the sacred and delight- 
ful task of feeding and of rearing them, we find an evidence 
that such uses belong to the marriage union, when formed from 
pure, and patient, and abiding love. If in the brute creation, how 
much more essential is that exclusive and indestructible affection 
between the parents of the human race ! Experience proves that 
human beings require parental government for a period so long, 
that the ties thus slowly matured are not easily dissolved again, 
and never in those who do their duty. The young birds are 
fledged, and fly to seek their own partners in a second season, per- 
haps in some far distant forest; and God, who decrees nothing 
vainly, wastes not a useless store of fond paternal feeling, when its 
existence could cause but vain regrets and fears. The tie of pa- 
ternal and maternal love in men is intended by precept, and more 
powerful example, to rear their children in the strong bonds of na- 
tural affection, wisdom and virtue ; that in a world where vice and 



LECTURE XXX. 



169 



selfishness combine in unnatural leagues, for the subversion of 
order, and to rob the industrious of their hard-earned independ- 
ence. The union of families may withstand the wrong, resist 
the evil, and maintain the right. 

Since men have learned to consider the institution of marriage 
merely as a legal contract, by which certain privileges and estates 
are to be bartered, an outrage upon divine law has been legalized 
in the custom of divorce. The condemnation of this abuse is to be 
found in the words of our Savior : " Whom God has joined to- 
gether, let no man put asunder." The God of nature has made 
marriage an indissoluble tie; and the only security against the 
evils connected with it is a vigilant precaution in making so pru- 
dent and virtuous a connexion, as will preclude the possibility of 
a wish to dissolve it. It is by reckless folly, sensuality, or ambi- 
tion, that men make the source of sweetest blessings, and most 
precious benefits, an evil intolerable to be borne. None should 
marry who do not know each other's principles, habits and temper. 
They should feel perfectly satisfied of the moral and religious cha- 
racter of the person to whom they would confide their own happi- 
ness, and that of their families. Never, especially in so near an 
interest, trust one who has failed in other duties. The best son, 
the best brother, the best man, will make the best husband; and 
" he who is false to his God, will never be true to thee." 

1 . What pernicious custom is here alluded to ? 2. For what end was mar- 
riage originally instituted? 3. What may home be termed ? 4. Who then is 
the treasurer of this fund of blessings? 5. Where can we take a retrospective 
view of the mutual exercise of domestic virtues ? 6. What motives will we 
find for increased diligence in the work of our education ? 7. By what 
should young men be governed; in selecting a companion for life ? 8. Why 
has marriage come to be considered mereJy as a legal contract ? 9. When 
did this happy state of marriage disappear ? 10. What was the effect of this 
unnatural state of bondage? — and where is it most faithfully exhibited? 11. 
Had human laws the effect of restoring love in its primitive purity? 12. How 
have both sexes come to consider marriage ? 13. Where do we find evidences 
that extensive moral uses belong to the marriage union ? 14. For what is the 
tie of paternal affection in men intended? 15. What has been one of the 
effects of viewing marriage as merely a legal contract ? 16. Where do we 
find a condemnation of this custom ? 17. What is the only security against the 
evils attending the marriage tie ? 



15 



170 POPULAR LECTURES. 

LECTURE XXXI. 

PRUDENCE. 

I Wisdom dwell with prudence. — Prov., viii., 12. 

We have seen that the first duty we owe to ourselves is to 
cultivate integrity, and to keep it unimpaired ; the second, to pre- 
serve our character unimpeached : and to effect these two prima- 
ry objects, it is necessary we should begin life with a principle 
which is, unfortunately, seldom much esteemed, until sad experi- 
ence proves its value. Who is there that has not endured, through 
years of vain regret, the consequences of some early indiscretion, 
some confidence reposed when prudence would have withheld 
it ; some loss of health, some debt, some odious intimacy, in which 
the only culpable principle with which we can charge ourselves in 
the first instance, is imprudence] The world is too generally 
governed by a sort of Lucretian morality, which sacrifices the 
substance to save the shadow. The best reputation is but the 
shadow cast by merit when the sun of prosperity faUs upon it. Still. 
for the good of others, since our example depends upon our cha- 
racter, we should most carefully preserve our good from being evil 
spoken of, by avoiding every appearance of evil which we can 
avoid, without incurring actual guilt. The danger of acting with- 
out a perfect foresight of the consequences of our actions is so 
admirably illustrated by a late fiction of a fanciful German writer 
of the present day, that I am tempted to give you a slight abstract 
of the tale. A young man of fine moral and religious sentiments, 
wishing to go into business, visits a large commercial city, with letters 
of recommendation to a rich merchant. He is invited to breakfast at 
the merchant's country-house, where he finds every thing very 
charming, and an elegant company of gay and fashionable people en- 
joying themselves highly ; but he is surprised, after some time, to ob- 
serve that there is a guest in the midst of them at all times, whose 
presence does not seem to be Observed by any one, although calcu- 
lated to excite the deepest curiosity. He has a very insignificant 
exterior, is obsequious to all, but especially to the master of the 
house, Mr. Thomas Jones. Dressed in a simple gray suit, he would 
soon have been unnoticed by our adventurer, Mr. Peter Schlemmil, 
(as he was by every other person present,) but that he discovered 
accidentally, to this young observer, a sort of omnipotence which 
amazed him beyond measure, and not the less that no one else 
seemed to be struck by it. Mr. Jones wished, during a walk through 
the beautiful gardens, for a Turkey carpet, and seats under a shady 
grove, that they might repose themselves: instantly the old gentle- 
man in gray bowed, and began to draw forth from his pocket a 
carpet and seats, as if he had been taking out a pocket handker- 



LECTURE XXXI. 



171 



chief and snuff-box, and down sat the company, without appearing 
to see any thing marvellous in the transaction. Again, as they 
went on, the host wished for some fine riding horses, caparisoned 
for the ladies ; and the old gray man again drew them forth from his 
pocket, with a low bow. Again, some one, viewing with delight the 
broad expanse of the ocean, which was in sight, remarked, "There 
is a distant sail;" another could not see it; and now, Mr. Jones 
wished for a fine telescope, when one was immediately produced 
from the capacious little pocket of the wonderful old man. By this 
time Peter Schlemmil had become so amazed, that he could stand 
it no longer ; and not daring to make any remarks aloud, he wan- 
dered away alone, musing on these strange things, when, seeing a 
young gentleman of the company apart from the rest, he approached 
him eagerly, and requested from him some information as to the 
extraordinary old gentleman who formed one of their company. 
The young gentleman did not understand, had seen no extraordi- 
nary person, and when reminded of the circumstances that had 
occurred, slightly observed that he knew nothing about it ; it was 
Mr. Jones's business, not his, to provide for the pleasures of his 
guests, and his part was to enjoy the hospitality of his host, and 
meddle no farther. Doubly amazed at this philosophical apathy, 
Peter continued his solitary walk, when presently he saw the won- 
derful old man approaching him with great deference and obse- 
quiousness. When he had overtaken him, he bowed very low, 
and said, " Sir, I have been anxiously following you, in hopes of pre- 
vailing upon you to do me a very great favor." " Me!" exclaimed 
Peter, "me! a young and penniless adventurer ; how can I do any 
thing to serve one who seems to be omnipotent]" " Alas ! no, sir," 
said the old man, bowing low ; " I have, you perceive, at my com- 
mand all that material nature can afford to make us happy, but 
often, when that is the case, some unsubstantial object takes pos- 
session of the desires, and a mere fantasy of the imagination 
becomes an object of our strongest wishes." " To what," said the 
young man, "do you allude 1" "During our morning walk," re- 
sponded his aged companion, " I have been greatly charmed by your 
manly and graceful figure, and as you walked in the bright sunshine, 
I became so taken with your shadow on the grass, that my heart 
is set upon possessing it. I have, you well know, the means of mak- 
ing you a substantial return, if you will gratify my inclinations." 
" My shadow ! what a strange idea ! My shadow ! how can I part 
with it ; and if I could, how could you get it V " Nay, that is my 
part ; only consent. See, here is Fortunatus' purse ; open it, take 
out what money you please, and observe, it is as full as ever. How 
much good an amiable young man like you may do with this 
inexhaustible treasure ; how much you will be revered and loved 
by the objects of your bounty; and what pleasures await the 
distinguished author of so much happiness !" " Strange," said the 
yoimg man, musing; "mysterious being ! what can you want with 



172 POPULAR LECTURES. 

my shadow. However, why should I not part with it, for such a 
consideration ! certainly there can be no doubt I shall be greatly 
the gainer by exchanging a mere shadow for all that is substantial, 
of which money is the representative. J consent" he said. And 
instantly the old man stooped to the ground, and rolled up the 
shadow, and thrust it into his pocket ; and the youth stood, in the 
"broad beams of lightsome day," shadowless. He looked down, 
and a shudder passed through his frame for an instant; especially 
as he detected a sinister smile on the countenance of the ancient 
personage with whom he had made this singular bargain. The 
old man now took leave of him, saying, "I leave you to the enjoy- 
ment of your wealth ; and, after a day and a year, I will visit you 
again, and if you are dissatisfied, I may perhaps let you have your 
shadow back." When he was left alone, Peter Schlemmil amused 
himself for a while, childishly, in drawing out pieces of gold and 
throwing them away, that he might draw forth mo~e, and prove 
that his store was indeed inexhaustible. Then he determined to 
go home ; and not having any desire to return to the company he 
had left, he walked towards the city, laying many bright plans as 
to how he should expend his treasures. At last, as he went musing 
along, an old woman hobbling behind, whom he had not observed, 
screeched out, " Sir, sir, what have you done with your sha : 
Now, in Germany, they have a proverb, that those whc deal with 
the devil cannot walk in the light, because they cast no shadow. 
Excessively agitated and alarmed, he hurried on, and determined 
to walk on the shady side of the street, until he reached home ; but, 
unfortunately, as he crossed a street, in the middle of the clay, a 
school of little children rushed out tumultuously ; and one acute 
little fellow suddenly spied the strange phenomenon, and cried out, 
" Oh, look at the man without any shadow !" Instantly thdy 
menced hooting at, and pelting him, until he was forced to escape 
from them by running, with the little rabble following, until he found 
shelter in his lodgings. His after life was filled i ^clients 

to conceal this sad deficiency, while his wealth was en 
sometimes in aiding the poor, sometimes in exalting the v 
sometimes in rewarding friends, sometimes in ignc 
his enemies with the means to injure him ; and thus his money 
brought about an equal balance of cares and pleasure:. He fell 
deeply in love with a charming girl, who, won by hi 
munificence and real merits, loved him devotedly ; 
discovered the awful secret, and he was dismiss t" 
At this dreadful crisis, the old gray man appe. rding 

to promise, and offered to let him have his sJ 

is purse also, if he would only sign away hi hup, at 

?.th. And now he saw plainly the consequence- 
act of ioprudence. He had involved himself irredee 
rashly consenting to an act the consequences of w 
considered ; and these consequences were to follow, and punish 



LECTURE XXXI. 173 

him all his lifetime ; or he must make up his mind to sacrifice his 
eternal happiness, and be a thorough-going villain, and to gain the 
world must lose his soul. Various were the temptations offered 
him by his tormentor, which, however, he had just resolution to 
reject. The devil, for such was this being of unnoticed presence, 
but superhuman agency, now continued to haunr him wherever he 
went, until at last, wandering sadly by the sea-side, he turned and 
remonstrated with his cruel persecutor. " Why," he said, " do you 
continue to pursue me with your tempting persuasions'? You 
know I hate you, and will never yield to your wicked suggestions ; 
I am sufficiently punished for my guilty imprudence, without having 
your detestable presence." " True," said the old man, "I will therefore 
leave you for the. present; but whenever you change your mind, 
and wish for my power, you have a talisman to recall me. Do but 
shake the magic purse, and I will be at your side; for where the 
sound of money is, I am not far off." " Detestable dirt '." said the 
despairing youth, " it is your influence, then, which is the cause of all 
my misery. Thus, then, I part with you, and with my tormentor 
for ever." Saying these words, he flung the fatal purse far into the 
ocean, while the devil gave a fiendish, contemptuous and disap- 
pointed laugh, and vanished, leaving poor Peter shadowless, friend- 
less, and moneyless, to shun the haunts of men, and gather a scanty, 
and precarious subsistence for the residue of his miserable life. 
Such, my dear young friends, are the common, every-day occur- 
rences of this busy, bustling existence, where the young are easily 
persuaded to involve themselves, thoughtlessly, in actions which 
they cannot believe will have any serious consequences ; but if 
they are contrary to the established providence of God, they must 
suffer a long, sad penalty, from which no repentance nor change of 
principle can after redeem them. Be prudent, then, and never im- 
plicate your integrity nor your reputation for any earthly compen- 
sation; but remember that a fair reputation is the shadow of an 
upright character, and the stronger the light that falls upon the 
virtuous man, the more vivid will be the lines of his image on the 
surface of that sphere on which he moves. 

Prudence is the guardian of youthful virtue ; and never do the 
young disregard her counsel, or take a step involving the possibility 
of evil consequences, without incurring the danger of making them- 
selves miserable through life. How many do we see struggling 
with families, burthened with pecuniary distresses, who have spent, 
in early life, foolishly, if not viciously, what, at a later period, would 
have secured them " the glorious privilege of being independent." 
How many sacrifice to the vanity of dress, or the indulgences of 
sensuality, the precious boon of health ; and, when the important 
business and interests of life call for strength and energy, groan out 
upon beds of languishing the wasting sands of life. Alas ! alas ! "if 
they could but know," as Moses exclaims, "what belongs to their 

15* 



174 POPULAR LECTURES. 

latter end," so as to permit remote, but certain consequences, to 
come into operation, at that period of human existence when the 
little rills and brooks of life have not yet mingled, and swollen their 
waters into one deep and powerful torrent, irresistible in its force, 
and uncontrollabl^in its incursions upon the metes and bounds of 
reason and conscSice. 

We will not say that prudence is a virtue ; because the virtues 
are active principles, and her office is to restrain the activity of all 
the principles, and prevent their going into excesses; but we must 
esteem prudence as the nurse and handmaid of the virtues. She 
hovers round the cradle of happy infancy, whispering maternal 
love, to watch that no insidious breath of " bitter biting " winds 
nip the sweet blossom of her hopes ; and when the little prattler 
first steps towards the parent's out-spread arms, 'tis prudence bids 
her, with such kind preventing care, bend forward suddenly, and 
clasp his tottering frame safe in her fond embrace. Tis prudence 
wraps the smiling cherubs from the storm, when now their opening 
minds seek, in the halls of knowledge, the elements of mental power, 
by which they soon shall wield a sceptre over the minds of men. 
Tis prudence marks the truant urchin's long delay, and cons the 
wild, rude jest and reckless oath of every schoolmate that fre- 
quents her door, and calls up many a smile on faded cheeks ; and 
conjures many a playful thought and harmless jest, to win her 
giddy boy to love his home. 'Tis prudence keeps the pious mother 
seated, with oft-trimmed lamp, counting the tardy midnight hours, 
while, in festive routs, or crowded theatres, her inexperienced boy 
tastes, heedless, many a painted bait, laid by the wily for his soul's 
dishonor. Generous power ! so long the scorn of those so much 
beloved, can I not win for thee the generous confidence of candid 
youth'? Sweet, gentle modesty! sister of valor, honor, truth! 
daughter of virtue ! pupil of the graces ! aid me to plead the cause 
of that far-sighted, faithful Mentor, whose friendly counsels shall 
guide and guard his young Telemachus through many a syren's 
cave and tyrant's court. 

A thousand lives, it is computed, were lost on our coast during 
the month of December last, from the want of pilots. Many of 
those persons were as intelligent, and perhaps as good sailors, as 
the pilots they so much needed. They were, however, deficient in 
that experience which the pilots possessed, and their intelligence 
and general information were of no use, where practical experience 
alone could serve. So a youth may excel in all the mental acquire- 
ments of the scholar, and in the elegant accomplishments of a 
gentleman, in wit, genius, and general information, and he yet may 
be utterly ignorant in many things in which the experience of the 
most illiterate might instruct him. — « Therefore, my son. be advised." 

1 If to preserve integrity is our first duty, what is the second i 2. What 
should we begin life with, that we never esteem until experience proves its 



LECTURE XXXII. 175 

LECTURE XXXII. 

HONOR AND HONESTY. 

Do that which is honest. — 2 Cor,, xiii., 7. ^ 

That which is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of 
God.— Luke, xvi., 15. 

Whatever the law of honor may have come to be considered 
among "fashionable people," I should hope that Mr. Paley is 
wrong in stating it as a law made by them, merely for the re- 
gulation of their conduct "towards each other." Confined to 
what is called the " point of honor," which I suppose to indicate 
something like the heel of Achilles, a point still vital, in the invulne- 
rable hide of moral sensibility, with which high-born selfishness 
clothes itself, it may be true. It is a point of honor which makes 
a man stab his benefactor, if he tells him he is a villain, although 
he is quite insensible to the moral degradation of being one. I 
take this point of honor merely to mean, the last point maintained 
by men lost to real virtue, who cannot endure to suffer the con- 
tempt they merit. The principle of true honor is a part of the law 
of nature, being the principle of self-respect. A principle which 
is intended by Providence to guard honesty, where human laws 
cannot operate. There are many offences against morality and 
a just regard for the rights of others, which can never be punished 
by courts of law ; in these honor is intended to be the panoply of 
social peace. Honor will not permit a man to take advantage of 
a post of security, to shoot an unwary traveller, that he may rob 
him of his purse. The same principle would prevent an honorable 
man from taking advantage of his personal attractions, wealth, su- 
periority of intelligence, powers of persuasion, or any other means, 
to rob a woman of her respectability of character, or reputation, 
because her weak partiality for him enables him to do so with im- 
punity from mankind. It must be said of women, 

u He who steals my purse, steals trash ; 
But he that filches from me my good name, 
Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed." 

So says Iago, truly the most consummate villain ever created by the 
human imagination; while he perfectly illustrates the truth of the 

value? 3. How do we lparn the value of prudence ? 4. What is the world 
too generally governed by ? 5. What is the best reputation ? 6. How far 
ought we to avoid evil appearances ? 7. What power is personified by the 
old gentleman in gray? 8. Who do Mr. Jones and Peter Schlemmil represent ? 
9. Why were so many persons lost for want of pilots ? 10. What should we 
learn from this ? 



176 POPULAR LECTURES. 

opinion, by the destruction of his unsuspecting victims. I should 
say, honesty was a strict adherence to what is due to others ; 
honor, to what is due to ourselves. To obtain the highest possible 
self-approbation, by maintaining, before the accusing and excusing 
tribunal of our ov>^ consciences, the most perfect dignity and eleva- 
tion of moral principle, is the office of honor. 

Of all the customs which have grown out of an abuse of the 
word honor, duelling is the least connected, in principle or practice, 
with true honor. For how can a man deceive himself into the 
belief, that he disproves a slander, or wipes away an insult, by 
happening to strike or be struck, as chance directs, by a bullet ? 
Does he disprove what a man has said, by killing him ] Certainly 
not ! Does he disprove it by being killed himself? No. How 
then, you will say, are men to be kept in fear, and prevented from 
slandering their neighbors ? There is no way, but by laboring to 
acquire, early in life, and to maintain unsullied, such a reputation as 
will refute malice. Men must live above calumny ; they must be 
Bayards — Preux chevaliers, 

" Sans tache, et sans reprocbe." 

There is another consideration, which an honorable man cannot 
get rid of in engaging in a duel, it is, that the person whose life he 
seeks, never stands alone, but that innocent, unoffending friends, 
father, mother, sister, brother, wife, children have, if he succeeds, 
to endure, through long sad years, the agony of a cruel domestic 
bereavement, without one of those soothing palliatives with which 
a merciful Providence generally softens the separation of friends 
by a natural death. The horror of a death of criminal violence, it is 
true, is to be followed by a resurrection to damnation ; but that is 
hid from our eyes. Men consider his sudden death as the penalty of 
his offences ; but the torn hearts of his surviving relatives dwell 
long, and, oh ! how bitterly, upon his resurrection, when, rising from 
the unblessed grave of sin, he shall call in vain on the rocks to hide 
him from a righteous Judge. The honorable mind cannot be insensi- 
ble to the idea of gratifying personal vengeance, at the expense of 
such misery to innocent persons with whom it has no quarrel. 

It is well that the providence of God has established it as an 
impossibility, that the sacrifice of man's life should redeem the lost 
reputation of women ; for the inconsiderate levity and want of prin- 
ciple which generally involve women in disgrace, would increase 
in proportion as they could get rid of the penalties they incur by 
imprudence, or could transfer them to others. No immolation, how- 
ever, of human victims, can purify the once tainted character of 
woman ; and all that father, brother or husband can do, is to bury 
in silent grief the irremediable wrong ; while, if there is a virtuous 
woman who suffers innocently, it will be her greatest consolation to 
be spared the ignominious fame of causing strife and bloodshed. 



LECTURE XXXII. 177 

It is related of the pride of his age, the virtuous and valiant high 
mareschal of France, Turenne, that once, on the field of a grand 
review of the French army, when the mareschal, at the head of his 
victorious forces, was the admiration of all present, a 3>'oung man, 
who supposed himself to have been treated unjustly, approached 
in front of the line, and spit in Turenne's face ! The indignant 
general, with sudden impulse, seized the hilt of his sword ; but 
recollecting himself, he replaced the weapon, and deliberately 
wiping his face, said, " Young man, could I as easily wipe your 
blood from my soul as your spittle frcm my face, I should have 
slain you en the spot: what then is your wrong 1 How have I 
injured you 1" The youth, overwhelmed by the magnanimity of 
the great man, burst into tears, threw himself at his feet, and was so 
deeply affected, when he discovered that even his supposed injury 
was a mistake, that it wrought a sudden and lasting change in his 
moral nature ; and he became one of the best of men, and most 
distinguished ; and was honored with the highest personal friend- 
ship of the good and great Turenne. 

This is honor. Had Turenne, from a cowardly fear of the 
contempt of others, sacrificed his own principle of self-approbation, 
and killed the youth, he would have been commended by men ; but 
the conciousness of a sacrifice of mental independence would have 
aggravated that secret sting which rankles in every bosom where 
there is the recollection of human life sacrificed to selfishness. 

It is the general opinion of men, that women approve of the 
custom of duelling, and that they despise a man who will net accept 
a challenge. I have heard many men affirm, that if their sex could 
be convinced they should be exalted, instead of disgraced, in 
the esteem of women, by refusing to engage in a duel, there would 
not be found one man in a thousand who would put his life upon 
such an absurd stake. What a reproach to the good sense and 
good feelings of women ! that so absurd, unprincipled and savage 
a custom should be sustained by their influence. Women should 
justify themselves from the imputation, by evincing, on all occa- 
sions, their esteem for those who are virtuous enough to refuse a 
challenge, and their displeasure at those who commit such an out- 
rage upon good sense and virtue. Since true honor is a moral 
principle which prevents the commission of a base or unworthy 
action, women are certainly as capable of honor as men, and should 
as jealously maintain their own claims to it. Low and sordid 
minds, like Falstaff's, endeavor in vain to comprehend its nature, 
and at last determine that it is a "mere escutcheon," because it 
cannot set a leg or an arm, cannot be seen or heard; but the noble 
soul, that feels the towering dignity of an honorable spirit, could 
never barter it for worlds of human profit, pleasure, or praise. 

Honesty consists in giving to every one that which they 1 
right to claim. The quality in ourselves, then, as a moral virtue, is 



178 POPULAR LECTURES. 

the principle by which we are constrained to withhold nothing 
from another, either moral or physical, neither property, credit, 
praise, esteem, respect, nor any other good thing to which they 
have acquired a just right. 

We suppose these two principles to belong to the God who made 
us and all mankind; and we comprehend them by means of our 
derived nature, and practise them through the influence of his good 
Spirit, freely bestowed upon all who will entertain, and be governed 
by it. 

Let us then give all the praise to his glorious name, to whom be 
ascribed the honor and power now and for evermore. 

1. What is said of the point of honor? 2. What is true honor? 3. For 
what is it intended by Providence ? 4. What are the definitions of honor and 
honesty? 5. What custom is least connected with true honor? 6. How 
must men live to escape slander ? 7. What other consideration is connected 
with this practice ? 8. What has Providence established as an impossibility ? 
9. What anecdote is related of Turenne ? 10. Was not this true honor? 11. 
Is it generally thought that women approve of duelling? 12. How should 
women justify themselves from this imputation ? 13. Are not women as 
capable of honor as men ? 14. What is the quality of honor in ourselves ? 
15. How do we comprehend and practise these two principles, which belong 
to the Deity? 



LECTURE XXXIII. 179 

LECTURE XXXIII. 

ON LIBERALITY AND ECONOMY. 

The liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand. — 

Isaiah, xxxii., 8. 
The substance of a diligent man is precious. — Prov., xii., 27. 

There is nothing more certain than that true liberality implies 
economy ; for to spend freely, without any principle, is not liberali- 
ty — it is prodigality. Liberality is the quality of a free spirit not 
trammelled by selfish parsimony, but ready to bestow according to 
its actual ability upon any proper object. Economy is such a just 
restraint of one's inclinations, and such a regulation of their ex- 
penditures, as will turn their means to the best account, while it 
avoids all waste, and never exceeds its just bounds. Many per- 
sons make the sad mistake of considering selfishness as economy. 
These would necessarily condemn the widow as a spendthrift, who 
cast her "two mites into the treasury." Such persons talk of a 
man's being liberal in giving fine dinners and balls, and keeping 
splendid carriages, servants, &c., as if one could be liberal in self- 
ishness! Were such men to judge, they would translate Dives 
from hell to heaven ; for " he wore purple and fine linen, and fared 
sumptuously every day." But such is not the judgment of the 
Christian or moral philosopher. He considers all moral principles 
in man as derived from God, and Jesus Christ as the perfect Ex- 
emplar by which their application to life is illustrated. Our Lord's 
liberality was not shown in ministering to his own appetites ; he 
provided himself with no rich garments, but clothed himself with 
" a coat without seams," which was the commonest dress of the 
peasants ; and when he hungered he performed no miracle to sup- 
ply himself with food ; but when the multitude were fainting with 
exhaustion he showed his liberality by amply relieving their 
wants ; at the same time, with a beautiful consistency of principle, 
seizing the moment when his liberality was thus conspicuous, to 
practise and recommend economy. " Gather up the fragments that 
remain, that nothing be lost. 1 " 

"Liberal, not lavish, is kind nature's hand." 
God ordains that the earth should bring forth in proportion to 
the demand of its inhabitants. If it has no inhabitants, we find it 
has enough for the birds and the beasts, and these multiply in pro- 
portion to the natural productions of the country. But the land 
that could scarcely sustain the birds and beasts in its wild state, 
provides for millions when cultivated. How strikingly is this prin- 
ciple illustrated in the miracle of the manna, with which the people 
of Israel were fed in the wilderness. " He that gathered much had 



180 POPULAR LECTURES. 

nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack." God gave 
them enough, but nothing to waste. 

Economy and liberality are principles to be extended to the use 
of every earthly possession. The economy of time is certainly 
the most important application, because it implies economy of 
every thing else ; but that time caimot be economized, no matter 
how short it may be, which is spent in wasting the means of hu- 
man comfort and usefulness. The economy of time depends much 
upon arrangement and system. These rules are most important : 
1st. Never to procrastinate nor neglect known duties, but enter up- 
on their performance so soon as the obligation is understood. 
2dly. To give business always the precedence of pleasure. By 
the observance of these two rules all our affairs will be kept regu- 
lar. In noticing the immense amount of labor, especially of men- 
tal labor, which has been effected in a given time by some persons, 
(by Sir Walter Scott, for instance, during the time he was employ- 
ed in publishing his works,) we become deeply sensible of the vast 
importance of an economy of time. How little do most men do in 
their lives, in comparison with what some men have done by great 
exertions in the course of a few weeks or days. Waverley came 
out in 1816, and Scott died in '35. In eighteen years he published 
works which are comprised in sixty volumes; while, at the same 
time, he was fully engaged as a judge on the bench, and with more 
literary correspondences and social engagements than would have 
been quite sufficient to employ an ordinary man. 

Time, feelings, intellectual powers, wealth, influence in society, 
are all talents which are to be employed with liberality and economy. 

Oh ! waste not thou the smallest thiug 

Created by Divinity ; 
For grains of sand the mountains make, 

And atomies infinity. 

Oh ! waste not thou the shortest time, 

'Tis imbecile infirmity, 
For well thou knowest, if aught thou know, 

That moments form eternity. 

Economy is classed in three divisions: political economy, do- 
mestic economy, and personal economy. The first consists in such 
a just distribution of advantages, such a protection of the various 
interests of men living under one government, such a wise appro- 
priation of the money and industry of the community, as will pro- 
duce the greatest amount of comfort and happiness to the country. 
This is a subject of vast importance, and requiring so much wis- 
dom and knowledge, that all men in a republic should endeavor to 
become acquainted with its principles, and should require of their 
rulers to be deeply versed in it as a science. 

Domestic economy it is needless to explain. Who cannot cite 
instances of some neighbor who lives comfortably and respectably 



LECTURE XXXIII. 



181 



upon small means, and of some other whose affairs are so mis- 
managed that, with ample means, there is want and discomfort in 
their dwelling. Personal economy is perhaps the best school for 
both the others ; and since it is its exercise which we would incul- 
cate as a moral duty, I would strongly recommend to you, my 
young friends, to commence at once, even from your earliest youth, 
to practise it. In books, in dress, in use of stationary, in useless 
baubles and idle expenditures of money, curb your selfish inclina- 
tions. Study to turn your little funds to the best account. Waste 
nothing; for that which you waste, clothes, books, paper, pens, 
pencils, &c., will have to be replaced by money; and, as the old 
Scotchman says, 

"Many a mickle makes a muckle." 

The sum of all your little expenditures might perhaps have edu- 
cated an orphan, or supplied a sick person with comforts. I have 
known young ladies who, by economy and care, dressed more 
neatly and tastefully upon forty dollars a year, than others, in the 
same society, upon four hundred. How many excellent purposes 
might be answered by saving all that is expended in superfluities, 
and devoting it to charities. 

When Marie Antoinette came to Paris, as dauphiness of France, 
on some public occasion the royal family were to walk in full dress 
to church in procession. A sum of money was presented to the 
beautiful young princess to purchase a suit of jewels for the occa- 
sion. She founded an orphan asylum with the money, and appear- 
ed in the procession in a simple white robe, with a white rose in 
her hair. All Paris resounded with blessings and applause of the 
good taste and virtue of this action ; and had every thing else been 
as consistently virtuous and amiable in the conduct of the royal 
family, France might have escaped a revolution, and the Bourbons 
have saved their lives. 

Parsimony is the vice opposed to liberality, prodigality to econo- 
my. Liberality requires that, in the exercise of economy, we 
should always have respect to the proper uses of money or other 
possessions. We should not save for the sake of hoarding or ac- 
cumulating more than is necessary for our reasonable wants, but 
we should abstain from all needless expenditures that we may 
have the more to give to every good object. God gives even his 
grace in measure. He bestows none upon those who by never 
seeking it indicate that they would not properly value and use it, if 
it were given to them. So should we endeavor to discriminate in 
giving, and not misapply our means by sustaining the idle and 
vicious in their vices and follies ; but be, like the Father of nature, 
* liberal not lavish." So shall we hereafter receive the reward of 
faithful stewards of the mercies of a beneficent God. 

] . What is liberality ? 2. Economy ? 3. What mistake is often made ? 4. 

16 



182 POPULAR LECTURES. 

LECTURE XXXIV. 

I c 

ON THE USE OF AFFLICTIONS. 

Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for us a far more 
exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. — 2 Cor., iv. 17. 

My dear children: 

"Afflictions come not from the dust," but from our heavenly 
Father, who knows our nature perfectly, and sees what means of 
probation are necessary to bring our moral being to that state of 
perfection which will secure for us admission into his holy presence 
hereafter, and capacitate our souls for the bliss reserved for those 
of his creatures who shall be "counted worthy of that state." 
That such is certainly the intention of our Creator, we know in 
two ways : first, experience convinces us of the beneficial effects 
of affliction upon our own characters, and upon those of others ; 
and that such effects are often continued by the providence of God, 
even to the brink of the grave, proving by the extension of the pro- 
bation that its fruits are not to be reaped in time, and can be hoped 
for only in eternity ; secondly, the Word of God has mercifully re- 
vealed to us this doctrine, and illustrated it with the pious ac- 
knowledgment of the saints of every age, that they have found it 
" good for them to have been afflicted." Nor is this the case merely 
in those inflictions of calamity which, by death, sever the bonds of 
love and friendship, and spread desolation throughout the circle of 
family affections. Death is the most awful, and the most irreme- 
diable of earthly woes, but many and various are the griefs and 
perplexities by which our path through life is obstructed and 
strewed with thorns. Natural infirmities, sickness, poverty, the 
wrongs and contumelies of injurious fortune, but, above all others, 
"man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." 
With the alchemy of religion, then, to turn all into gold, to convert 
even sin and sorrow into purity and everlasting bliss, is the office of 



What are the opinions of some upon liberality ? 5. How was our Savior's li- 
berality shown? 6. When did he show his economy ? 7. In what proportion 
does the earth bring forth ? S. How is this illustrated ? 9. What does econo- 
my of time imply ? 10. What two rules are important in the economy of 
time 3 11. What is said of Sir Walter Scott's use of timer 12. How are 
time, feelings, intellectual powers, &.c, to be employed ? 13. What are the 
three divisions of economy ? 14. What does political economy consist in ? 
15. Domestic economy? 16. Personal economy? 17. What is said of the 
latter? IS. What is the old Scotch adage ? 19. What anecdote is related of 
Marie Antoinette? 20. What vice is opposed to liberality ? 21. To econo- 
my? 22. What does liberality require? 23. Why should we abstain from 
useless expenditures ? 24. How does God bestow his grace ? 25. In what 
should we imitate the Father of nature ? 



LECTURE XXXIV. 



183 



the Holy Spirit, as given by the Lord Jesus to his peculiar people. 
No matter how unpropitious the condition, nor how adverse the na- 
ture of the subject for the transmutation, the human heart, if sub- 
mitted to be melted in the crucible of affliction, and refined by suffer- 
ing, becomes as " gold tried in the fire." We are constrained, how- 
ever, to say, " if submitted " to the process ; for voluntary resistance 
indurates the soul, and if not willing to be benefited by the re- 
bukes and chastenings of the Lord, its very resistance drives it to 
destruction. 

In the daily intercourse of society, the performance of every 
domestic duty, patience is the virtue which is most incessantly 
called for ; and it is the office, of patience to produce the loveliest, 
most blessed, and divinest of Christian attributes — meekness. " Let 
patience, then, have her perfect work ;" and remember that, when 
Moses was impatient, and slew the Egyptian, the Lord punished 
him with a long and painful exile ; and observe that, when under 
the teaching of God's Spirit, he had learned to prefer suffering 
affliction with the people of God, to the pleasures of Egypt, he 
became the meekest man upon earth; and God heaped honors 
and rewards, both temporal and spiritual, upon him. 

It has been often observed, that the severest afflictions are not 
the most difficult to bear. The exquisite comparison by which 
Scott illustrates the character of Q,ueen Elizabeth, is so peculiarly 
just in her case, because so finely descriptive of the human heart, 
which had the highest developement of its passions and principles 
in that self-willed princess. The comparison alluded to, is to one 
of those celebrated rocking stones, whose immense weight is so 
perfectly balanced on its narrow base, that "the finger of an 
infant" could have moved it, but the power of a giant could not 
havcdestroyed its equilibrium. The human mind has energies and 
resources within itself, which it cares not to call forth on slight 
occasions; and therefore it is, that we see those who have shown, 
under circumstances of severe trial, the greatest fortitude, fretted 
and deprived of self-possession, by the little perplexities or vexa- 
tions incident to all who are engaged in the active business of life. 
But this should not be so. These little goading, irritating circum- 
stances are intended to discipline the mind to patience, and to 
smooth down the asperities of the temper, by their friction. That 
they have a contrary effect, and increase irritability, is because the 
powerful aid of Christian principle is not called upon, as it should 
be, whenever there is a consciousness of being disturbed by exter- 
nal things ; for whatever threatens to throw the mind off its balance, 
is certainly of importance to guard against by every appointed 
means. Despise not, then, the day of small things ; consider that 
Goliah, who defied the whole army of Israel, was slain by a boy 
with a stone from his sling ; so will you, no matter what your 
resolutions of self-government may be, fail under the trials of 



184 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



patience which belong to your connexion with man, if you look not 
unto Jesus incessantly for grace to endure " the' contradiction of 
sinners " from without, and the irritability from within, which so 
easily beset you. Are you perplexed by affairs, or cumbered 
about much serving, and do the negligence and deficiencies of your 
servants, or the perverseness or ill conduct of your connexions, 
upset your equanimity and endanger the soul which would have 
rode safely over the waves of religious persecution and martyrdom, 
do the passionate taunts or unjust sarcasms of your companions 
inflame your passions, and excite resentment ! Then guard your- 
self in the panoply of Christian patience ; let your love for your 
own soul, and your desire to glorify God by a heavenly walk and 
conversation, put a bridle upon your lips; and learn never to 
answer again, in that spirit of carnal pride which assails you. 
When Jesus was accused, "he opened not his mouth." Such 
chastening, which the Lord permits sinners to lay upon us, is a 
light affliction, which is intended to work out for us a far more 
exceeding and an eternal weight of glory, if by it we attain to the 
patience of the saints. The natural pride of the human heart is 
peculiarly tried by the circumstances of sickness. The continual 
self-denial we are found to practise, the submission to perfect 
dependence upon the coarse and unfeeling, who show us that they 
are weary of us ; the mortifying perception that our most devoted 
friends lose nothing of their zest for amusements on account of 
our sufferings ; in fine, the humiliating consciousness with which 
a long illness inspires us of the extent of our own insignificance, 
and how easily we should be forgotten, when the grave had 
removed us from the presence of the living; these, and all the host 
of such trials, are intended gradually to wean our affections from 
earth, and fix them upon those things which are eternal at God's 
right hand, and to perfect holiness in our souls, without which we 
can never enter into our heavenly rest. Give a few moments, then, 
each morning, before entering on the business of the day, to 
considering what the trials are to which you will be most peculiarly 
exposed ; and resolve, before your treacherous passions are roused, 
to bind them with the cords of love to the foot of the cross. 
Remember that they are as tigers, that will not be controlled by 
reason nor conscience, if once they are freed from restraint. 

So much for the daily and hourly self-government which the 
common trials of life impose upon us, if we would be virtuous : for 
" a man who has no rule over his own spirit is, like a city without 
walls," exposed to every enemy who assails him, and never know- 
ing when "they of his own household" may betray him to dis- 
grace and ruin. If so much consequence is to be attached to the 
crown of thorns, whose minute points so painfully penetrate the 
surface, what shall we say of the cross upon which our dearest 
earthly affections are crucified. Mysterious agonies by which we 



LECTURE XXXIV. 



185 



enter into the kingdom of him who purchased a world, by assum- 
ing the burthen of all its sins and all its sorrows ! is it lawful for us 
to rebel against that which our Master endured for us? No; 
patience must have its perfect ivork, even though the grief be that 
profoundest of all sorrows, the eternal destruction of our nearest 
and dearest natural ties; though the father who folded our infancy 
in his arms, though the mother who nursed us on her bosom, 
though the sweet playmate of our infancy, a beloved brother, or 
precious sister, depart for ever from our heavenly Father's house, 
yet must we abide there, nothing doubting that the time shall 
come, when " all tears shall be wiped from our eyes," and " there 
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall 
there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." 
" I have before me, (says Oberlin, to a lady in deep affliction,) two 
stones, which are imitations of precious stones. They are both 
perfectly alike in color ; they are of the same water, clear, pure 
and clean ; yet there is a marked difference between them, as to 
their lustre and brilliancy. One has a dazzling brightness, while 
the other is dull, so that the eye passes over it, and derives no 
pleasure from the sight. What can be the reason of such a differ- 
ence ] It is this : the one is cut but in a few points ; the other has 
ten times as many. These points are produced by a very violent 
operation ; it is requisite to cut, to smooth, and polish. Had these 
stones been indued with life, so as to have been capable of feeling 
what they underwent, the one which has received eighty points 
would have thought itself very unhappy, and would have envied 
the fate of the other, which, having received but eight, had under- 
gone but a tenth part of its sufferings. Nevertheless, the opera- 
tion being over, it is done for ever : the difference between the two 
stones always remains strongly marked ; that which has suffered 
but little, is entirely eclipsed by the other, which alone is held in 
estimation and attracts attention." May not this serve to explain 
the saying of our Savior, whose words always bear some reference 
to eternity : " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be com- 
forted V The poet of a barbarous age has beautifully said, that 
" there is a joy in grief, when peace dwells in the soul of the sad." 
After then contemplating the hopeless sorrow which grieves for lost 
souls whelmed in the ruin of sin, the grief that has hope, the con- 
sciousness that a beloved friend has departed, to be with Christ, 
that they are asleep with him, perhaps dreaming of a joyful waking, 
when holy and happy, they shall enter into eternal life, this grief 
has had its sting taken away. *Contemplate it in its severest form; 
for it is better to go into the house of mourning than into the house 
of feasting. Open your heart to the deepest sympathies of our 
nature in commiserating the keenest of earthly sorrows, that of a 

*This was written on hearing of the death of Miss M. J., a beloved young 
friend, who had been a pupil of the school. 

16* 



186 POPULAR LECTURES. 

mother bereaved of a daughter, who has lived to become the solace 
and delight, the companion and friend of her declining age, as she 
has been the hope of her more youthful affections. Walking 
through her desolated dwelling, the aching void produced in her 
thoughts and affections is felt at every step ; in her lone chamber, 
or by the cheerful fireside, some seat is vacant that she was wont 
to fill, and reminds her that she who contributed so much to the 
happiness of the domestic circle is gone for ever. In all her youth- 
ful loveliness we have laid her in the cold, damp grave. Every 
sense is busy in ministering to grief, and suggesting their own pecu- 
liar associations of sorrow ; and memory, that importunate and 
unfeeling faculty, which cares not for the anguish it inflicts, whispers, 
" Those soft beams of affection with which her beautiful eyes so 
fondly turned upon you, you will never meet again ; the gentle 
tones of that dovelike voice will never again vibrate on your ear, 
with the mysterious charm which belongs to the simple word 
mother ; no more shall you feel the sacred thrill of holy emotion 
with which you met the pressure of her lips, in the warm, pure 
salutations of a daughter's love." Here, oh thou God of heaven 
and earth ! what a lesson dost thou give us of the danger of fixing 
our thoughts and affections upon earthly things ; by what terrible 
dispensations dost thou sever our souls from the earth, and force 
them to follow thee into the invisible hereafter. How dost thou 
cast up the foundations of dust, and tear the deep roots of our 
affections forth, and leave us like a tree which the whirlwind has 
overthrown ! Who, that looks on the giant oak in the strength of 
its centurian growth, could have thought that, in one minute, an 
invisible power could wrench it from its hold and leave it prostrate 
in the dust ! So the strong ties of human affection are severed in 
an instant. But let the expression of animal feeling be hushed. 
Be silent, earth! and listen to one who comes among you, with the 
power of him who has overthrown your earthly joys, and the 
sympathy of a man who feels for you as a brother. Hear those 
precious words, "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth." Yes, 
bereaved mother, your daughter sleeps sweetly in Christ, safe from 
such pangs as now rend your heart, she rests in hope of a glori- 
ous resurrection. Yet a little while, and you shall stand side by 
side, and you will say, "Is this, indeed, my drooping, perishing 
child, who fell away from my side, like a withering flower ] Is 
this my daughter, radiant with glory, smiling in the eternal light of 
God's throne, resplendent in the purity of a heavenly nature, 
exulting in the victory over sin and sorrow and the grave ?" Can 
you not, even now, see the celestial ray of her angelic eye beaming 
on you? Do you not hear the silvery tones of her voice, in 
ravishing sweetness, say, "Oh, mother! it was for this we mourn- 
ed, it was for this we suffered, it was for this I died. Can you not, 
then, wait your appointed time, go on rejoicing in faith, performing 



LECTURE XXXIV. 1 87 

the assigned duties of your mortal pilgrimage, till your end come] 
Did not sorrow wean me, did not suffering purify me, did not 
death release me, from the bondage of corruption ; and do you not 
know that our Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand, at the 
latter day, upon the earth ; and though worms destroy this body, 
yet in the flesh shall we see God, whom we shall see for ourselves, 
and our eyes shall behold ? Do you not know that it is gain to die, 
and be with Christ ; and would you have bound me longer in the 
chains of mortality, and perhaps have lived to see my soul whelm- 
ed in the cares and griefs, or worse, the tempting, deceptive, mis- 
named pleasures of that world which is at enmity with God?" 
Such is the spirit of consolation which visits the broken heart of 
the Christian mourner, and, to young and old, it seems for ever to 
sound one warning, " Prepare to meet your God /" Life is but 
the suspension of death, and death is but the entrance to eternity. 
Work out then your eternal destiny, as one who knows that the 
sword is suspended above his head. Set yourselves to know the 
peculiar duties of your station and age, and diligently to perform 
them ; and, above all things, cultivate those spiritual graces which 
will adorn your immortal state ; for all your other attainments will 
be lost in the glory of the higher faculties of a nobler being. My 
young friends, you must each one meet God in one of two 
characters, — as a condemned rebel, or as a pardoned child re- 
stored to its father's favor. Let the death then, of every fellow 
mortal, especially of every young companion, be to you the affect- 
ing assurance of this solemn truth, that you too are mortal ; that 
every night a unit is struck from the number of your days ; that 
soon the little sum of them will be exhausted, and then, prepared 
or not, you will be forced to bring every thing belonging to your 
life, whether it be good, or whether it be evil, into judgment. 
Therefore, once more, ""Prepare to meet your God ;" for if you do 
it not voluntarily, while in prosperity, soon the chastening hand of 
Providence will be laid upon you ; your earthly joys will be taken 
away ; and then will you exclaim, " Would that I had remembered 
my Creator, in the days of my youth, before the evil days had come, 
in which I am forced to say, I have no pleasure in them." There- 
fore, once more, I repeat, when afflictions are sent you, "Prepare 
to meet your God." 

1. From whom do our afflictions come ? 2. Why are they sent ? 3. How 
do we know this? 4. Is this to be believed of all afflictions? 5. What is the 
office of the Holy Spirit in afflictions? 6. What is left for man to do? 7. 
What effect is produced by suffering, if the operation of the Spirit is resisted? 
8. What virtue is most called for in human life ? 9. What quality is produced 
by patience ? 10. Of what was Moses an example ? 11. What kind of afflic- 
tions are most difficult to bear? 12. Why is this? 13. Is this right? 14. 
What are our little trials intended for ? 15. Why have they a contrary effect ? 
16. What is illustrated by the death of Goliah ? 17. What is the Christian 
exercise of patience ? 18. What is the use of our light affliction ? 19. How 



FOPULAR LECTURES. 



LECTURE XXXV. 



COMPANY, CONVERSATION AND PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. 

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the cily of the living God, the 
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general 
assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to 
God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus 
the Mediator of the new covenant. — Heb , xii., 22 — 24. 

What manner of persons then ought ye to be in all holy conversation. — 
2 Pet., iii., 11. 

The social appetite, in its most extensive signification, (i. e. a na- 
tural inclination for the company of our own kind,) is a principle 
essential to every thing great and good in human life. Man, as an 
isolated being, would be the most imperfect of the animals of our 
globe. It is by the social principle that his superior faculties are 
developed. By the experience of others he becomes wise, by the 
virtues and vices of others he learns to distinguish between right 
and wrong, by the aid of others he becomes more powerful than 
the lions, the tigers, and even the tremendous elephant, that tears 
up the tree with his proboscis ; while unarmed and untaught he 
would be an eas}r prey to the bears and the wolves. The princi- 
ples of knowledge are gradually unfolded by the force of associa- 
tion ; the accumulated stores of science overpower, at last, every 
obstacle ; mountains sink and valleys rise before the united efforts 
of feeble men, until, by land and water, vast crowds are seen to 
glide with a magic velocity from one distant point of the compass 
to another, as if the lover's prayer, (once deemed absurd,) for the 
annihilation of time, and space had met with full favor and accom- 
plishment. The Creator has implanted a desire for intercourse 
with their fellow creatures, for the mutual pleasure and improve- 
ment of men ; and company is the name we give to that voluntary 
association of men for their mutual good and pleasure. Upon the 
principle that we best secure our own happiness by faithfully per- 
forming our duties to others, we shall find that our enjoyment of 
social intercourse depends upon our honoring men by seeking their 

does sickness try patience? 20. What should we do every morning? 21. 
What are the passions like, if not restrained ? 22. What is a man like, who 
has no rule over his own spirit, and why? 23. What is said of the spiritual 
death of our friends? 24. What does Ossian say of grief? 25. What takes 
the sting from grief? 26. What is the sweetest form of sorrow? 27. What 
lesson do we learn from this? 28. How does God sever our hearts from earth ? 
29. What words of Christ are most consoling ? 30. What consolation has a 
Christian mother in the death of her daughter? 31. What should all learn 
from the death of another ? 32. What preparations should we make ? 33. In 
one of what two characters must we meet God ? 34. Of what should we be 
every night conscious ? 35. To what should we be ever led to look forward ? 



LECTURE XXXV. 189 

society, exactly in proportion to their individual merit. The quali- 
ty that most ennobles men is virtue. Honor, then, with most dis- 
tinguished attention, the most virtuous men ; so will you do justice, 
so will you come under the happy influence and example of the 
good man, and be enabled to aid in his good deeds, and strengthen 
and uphold the hands of the servants of God. Next to virtue, 
though far beneath in the estimation of wisdom, is knowledge. If 
then you can find united in one individual these two great distinc- 
tions of virtue and knowledge, how highly should you value the 
privilege of their society! If you have to separate them, and are 
forced to seek for information or learning from a man whose cha- 
racter, principles or manners are not virtuous, confine the respect 
you pay him strictly to the subject of your business with him. 
Prescribe the boundary line of your intercourse, and never permit 
him to pass over it. If he attempts to do so, imagine it not to be 
a point of social virtue or good manners to submit to any assault 
upon virtue or piety in your presence ; but, in defending your prin- 
ciples, let your practice be perfectly consistent with them. Exhibit 
no violence nor passion, but firmly present the shield of dignified 
reserve as a protection of your own feelings, and a barrier against 
the indignity offered to your moral character. So far, my dear 
young friends, the lines are clear. If it is a moral injury to deceive 
a man as to his real standing in society, you have no right to honor 
a man by your treatment of him, when, in your heart, you despise 
him. By doing so, you assist in the self-deception which already 
corrupts his mind and heart. These rules are equally applicable 
to association with individuals and general companies. If it is de- 
lightful and profitable to enjoy the society of a distinguished phi- 
lanthropist, a venerable missionary, or an enlightened philosopher, 
how much more so to be admitted to a company of such beings ; 
and if we should honor men in proportion to their possession of 
such distinctions, it is evident these are the true characteristics of 
good society. Society is good in proportion as virtue and know- 
ledge prevail in it ; and, if so, it is the duty of every individual to 
exert himself for the promotion of virtue and knowledge, in the so- 
ciety of which he is a member, both by his own conduct and con- 
versation, and by the discriminating consideration of his deport- 
ment towards others. The greatest evil to society has ever been 
the want of analytic judgment in the mass of mankind, who are 
prone to give general praise when only very partial merit exists. 
They see something very great and dazzling, and being incapable 
of examining and comprehending it, they call it Jupiter, and fall 
dow r n and worship it. In ancient times, and even now in heathen 
countries, this spirit has gone out into idolatry ; in monarchies it 
keeps up the factitious supremacy of privileged ranks, and causes a 
Christian nation to identify its honor with that of a disgraced 
gambler, a dissolute sensualist, or it has often been still worse. 



190 POPULAR LECTURES. 

In republics, this want of discrimination is even more to be dread- 
ed. Power being derived immediately from the people, it is too 
apt to be invested in those who, by showy qualities, attract popular 
applause, rather than in those who, by solid wisdom, and modest 
virtue, would advance the real good of society. This propensity 
to idolize the showy exterior, rather than honor the real virtues of 
men, has been the great principle of corruption in human associa- 
tions; and the moralist sees no means of correcting this evil, which 
has ever promoted vice to the high places of the earth, but by 
increasing the power of virtue and knowledge through the educa- 
tion of the mass of society. 

We have next to examine the subject of company, as it regards 
mere pleasure. Is there, we may first inquire, such a thing, in reali- 
ty, as pleasure unconnected with virtue ! Doubtless there is such 
a thing as present pleasure in the gratification of the senses and 
imagination; and this pleasure we are incapable by nature of 
refusing. If we would, we could not be insensible to the forms of 
beauty, the harmonious combinations of melodious sounds, the 
odors and flavors of flowers and fruits, the vivid light of the dia- 
mond, and mild lustre of the pearl, — objects which wealth assem- 
bles around itself, and those " whom it delighteth to honor." But 
these pleasures of the senses should be more diffused; scattered, 
as God has scattered them, to cast a charm across the arduous path 
of virtue. Genius should wreath her deathless laurels for the brow 
of truth, and wealth should break her precious box of odorous 
incense on the feet of charity. 

Philanthropy, or a sympathy with our fellow creatures, is pro- 
moted by intercourse with men. Without general society, how 
many sources of interest should we be robbed of, in the contempla- 
tion of those agreeable varieties which diversify the human race! 

How beautifully do the various shades of character blend; and 
how strikingly do they illustrate each other's merits, by the power 
of contrast, in society ! How much, in the interchange of thought, 
is elicited to correct our errors, to increase our knowledge, to 
strengthen our judgment, to stimulate our imaginations, to refine 
and elevate our tastes, and to enlarge our affections. k - So many 
hours a day," says Mr. Combe, " ought to be devoted to the culti- 
vation and gratification of our moral sentiments ; that is to say, in 
exercising them in harmony with the intellectual faculties, and, 
especially, in acquiring the habit of admiring: lori?ig; and yielding 
obedience to the Creator and his institutions. This last object is of 
vast importance. Intellect is barren of practical fruits, however 
rich it may be in knowledge, until it is freed and prompted to act 
by moral sentiments. In my view, knowledge by itself is com- 
paratively barren and impotent, compared with what it becomes 
when vivified by elevated emotions ; it is not enough that intellect 
is informed ; the moral faculties must simultaneously co-operate. 



LECTURE XXXV. 



191 



yielding obedience to the precepts which the intellect recognizes to 
be true. One way of cultivating the sentiments would be, for men 
to meet and act together on the fixed principles which I am now 
endeavoring to unfold, and to exercise on each other, in mutual 
instruction, and in united adoration of the great and glorious Crea- 
tor, the several faculties of benevolence, veneration, hope, ideality, 
wonder and justice. The reward of acting in this way would be a 
communication of direct and intense pleasure to each other ; for I 
refer to every individual, who has had the good fortune to pass a 
day or an hour with a really benevolent, pious, honest, and intel- 
lectual man, whose soul swelled with adoration of his Creator, 
whose intellect was replenished with knowledge of His works, and 
whose whole mind was instinct with sympathy for human happi- 
ness, whether such a day did not afford him the most pure, ele- 
vated, and lasting gratification he ever enjoyed. Such an exercise 
would invigorate the whole moral and intellectual powers, and fit 
them to discern and obey the divine institutions/' 

But this eloquent passage relates to the use of the social princi- 
ple ; its abuse is, when the excessive indulgence of the propensity 
leaves no room for study or reflections, when the multiplied sub- 
jects of mental exercise afforded by intercourse with society pass 
so rapidly, and in such numbers, before the mind, that the transient 
and superficial notices taken of them, efface each other and leave 
no impressions behind. The senses being so incessantly employed 
in the dress, the dancing, the music, the furniture, &c., which im- , 
press them with agreeable sensations, that the mind has no time to 
receive distinct perceptions, much less to form judgments from 
reflection. 

With regard to what are called public amusements, balls, mas- 
querades, races, theatres, &c., they are evidently contrary to the 
principles of pure morality, in as much as they produce a vicious 
expenditure of all the means of human happiness and virtue. Time, 
thought, teeling, money, health, are all dissipate^, by them, in what 
is purely selfish and sensual, often highly immodest, and too fre- 
quently licentious. Of course they cannot, as a general principle, 
but produce a demoralizing effect upon the soul of man. Of 
gambling I must say little; I have no language to express the 
wickedness and folly of a vice, which stakes all that is dear to the 
soul upon the turn of a die, or the spots on the cards. I have no 
language which would not appear inadequate to the description of 
those charnal houses, in which are daily buried the last remains of 
human virtue, honor, and happiness. To the father who practises 
this vice, I shall say, You would have been kinder had you denied 
your boy his nurse's milk, and put an end to his existence in infant 
innocency, if you meant to pollute his soul by the contagion of so 
ruinous an example. To the son who plunges into the vortex of 
dissipations, and becomes ensnared in the toils of this infamous, de- 



192 POPULAR LECTURES. 

testable practice, I would say, Oh, fly! take refuge in the home of 
your infancy ; let the bosom of a fond mother shield you ; let the 
honorable age of your father, let the fond endearments of a sister's 
love, let the generous friendship of your brothers, bind your soul 
afresh in the chords of domestic affection, and reclaim you from 
the gulf of perdition. There is no reasoning against this vice; we 
all equally acknowledge its sinfulness; feeling alone can protect 
its victim against himself. The chief pleasure of company consist- 
ing in conversation, some examination of the uses and abuses of 
this privilege is called for. Our conversation, then, should be such 
as will reflect honor upon our Creator, by honest, honorable, ele- 
vated, and amiable expressions of our sentiments; and in our 
hours of social relaxation, by purity and innocent gayety of heart, 
by candor, prudence, charity, care for the reputation of others, and 
by strictly refraining from idle talking, which may bring us into 
judgment in the last day. We should never, in the serious inter- 
course of business or kindness, hold ourselves above any, except 
the vicious. In the unbending intercourse which is the charm of 
refined friendship, we should never admit the illiterate, uneducated, 
or vulgar. This is to " throw pearls before swine." Low jesting, 
vulgar expressions, coarse or indelicate allusions, taint the purest 
mind; and well does Solomon say, "Dead flies cause the sweet 
ointment to send forth an offensive odor," so is a little folly in a 
man in reputation for wisdom. Let all young persons then guard 
well the privilege granted them by the Scripture, of preferring one 
to another in the ties of honorable friendship; and while they live 
in the world, let them be careful not to be of the world ; so shall 
their connexions with their fellow creatures, resemble that of their 
Maker, who holds no intercourse with men, although ever present 
with them, but for their happiness and improvement. 

1. What is the social appetite in its most extensive signification ? 2. Why 
has the Creator implanted a desire for intercourse with our fellow creatures ? 
3. Upon what does our enjoyment of social intercourse depend ? 4. What 
quality most ennobles man ? 5. What is next to virtue ? 6. How should we 
defend ourselves against any indignity offered to our moral character? 7. 
Have we a right to honor a man by our treatment of him when we really 
despise him ? 8. Are these rules equally applicable to individuals and general 
companions? 9. When is society good? ]0. What is the duty of every 
individual in society? 11. What has been the greatest evil to society? 12. 
What has been the effect of this want of ancient times ? 13. In monarchies ? 
14. In republics? 15. How is this evil to be corrected? 16. Is there such a 
thing as pleasure unconnected with virtue ? 17. How is philanthropy pro- 
moted ? 18. When is the abuse of the social principle ? 19. What is said of 
public amusements? 20. What should our conversation be? 21. Whom 
should our connexions with our fellow creatures resemble ? 



LECTURE XXXVI. 193 

LECTURE XXXVI. 

ON OUR DUTIES TO OUR FELLOW CREATURES. 

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them likewise. 
— Luke, vi., 31. 

Great God ! who hath established the sacred bonds of duty be- 
tween thy creatures, and bade them regard each other as brethren, 
and the whole family of man as thy children ; how shall I, upon 
the face of whose life are written the characters of cold and selfish 
indifference to the real welfare of the human race, how shall I lead 
others to a just appreciation of their duties 1 Am I not a blind 
guide, and shall we not fall together into deeper condemnation, if 
they confide in me, and do as I have done 1 Blessed Lord Jesus, 
thou alone art the guide, thou alone art the way, thou alone art 
able to lead men by thy power, to quicken them by thy Spirit, to 
encourage, and cheer, and strengthen, and reward them in their 
arduous labors, by brighter examples, by thy ever-present Spirit, 
by thy glorious promises. Let us, then, my beloved young friends, 
(for oh ! how does my heart expand and embrace you all in the 
bonds of deathless love, when I contemplate the possibility of your 
becoming followers of your glorious Master in his labors of love,) 
let us, if we wish to be made practically acquainted with our du- 
ties to our fellow creatures, analyze the great Model of perfection, 
nothing doubting that he who fed thousands publicly, by a miracle, 
will also give us of his good Spirit if we ask it, that we may be 
as he was in this w T orld. Consider, then, that. he was the first-born 
of many brethren, that, through suffering, he might bring many 
sons of his Father to perfection. That he emptied himself of his 
great glory that he had with the Father, and became a man, and 
was tempted in all things like as We are tempted, and hungered, 
and thirsted, and denied himself, and gave his time, his thoughts, 
his love, his tears, his prayers, his labors, bodily and mental, and 
finally his life, for those whom he called brethren. But w T hat did 
he seek for those whom he thus exalted to be his brethren 1 What 
was the precious purchase of his blood 1 " Not gold and silver, 
corruptible things." He labored, not that his mother, and sister, 
and brother might live in better houses, and enjoy better fare, and 
wear more costly apparel than their neighbors, but that the hearts 
of his rich brethren might be ennobled by a divine spirit of bene- 
volence, and descend graciously and sweetly from their high seats, 
to embrace, console, and minister to the poor ; and that the poor 
brethren might be encouraged and stimulated to better hopes and 
higher aims by the generous sympathy of the rich. He labored 
and died that the family of his brethren might be one in heart and 

17 



194 POPULAR LECTURES. 

spirit. Why did he desire this 1 Is it not just, you may say, that 
the industrious, regular, economical and prudent should reap the 
benefit of their good conduct, and that the wealth a man accumu- 
lates should be secured to him and to his children to enjoy ! Un- 
doubtedly; and he and his children, if wealth, the selfish accumu- 
lation of stores of gold, is his ultimate object, will enjoy it ; and 
when the poor beggar who lies at his gate may be carried (if he 
was patient and pious) by angels into bliss, the laborer for gold 
will be tormented in hell. Why ? Because he was regular, pru- 
dent and wealthy ! No : because he loved money, and loved not 
his poor suffering brother, whose welfare is equally important in 
the sight of God with his own. Not wealth, nor the cold, selfish, 
worldly prudence which counts its treasures, and lays up much 
goods in store, and cautiously unclasps the full purse to purchase 
the beggar's blessing with a reluctant farthing, can ever enter the 
kingdom of heaven. Indeed, if it could, it would be no heaven, 
for the lover of gold, stripped by the relentless hand of death of 
the purple robe and the magic name of wealth, and seeing those 
whom he had been accustomed to consider as far beneath him, 
clothed in the heavenly robes of Christ's righteousness, and 
blessed with the "bright reversion of the skies,"' with the love 
of him who loved them and died for them, even when they were 
sinners, how can he enjoy this scene ? Alas, poor, poor, low spirit- 
ed, starving, destitute, naked soul ! Like Midas, your wealth can- 
not keep you from perishing. Go now, then, be the faithful 
steward of God ! the wealth you hold is not your own ; you yourself 
are not your own. You are a pensioner on the bounty of an 
hour. " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof;" and if 
God has committed more to you than to your neighbors, he will 
require his own with usury. Yes, whether it be ten talents to the 
wealthy, or one talent to the poor man, every means of doing 
good upon earth is given not in vain ; and in that day when the 
records of man's deeds done in the body are opened, and the judge 
is set, it will matter less than men suppose, whether the decree 
come forth for having denied much or denied little. It will be 
against him who denied what God enabled him to give, whether 
it be food, clothing and medicine to the destitute and sick, and 
release to the prisoner, from the rich, or a cup of col 1 water from 
him who had nothing else to give. Heaven demands the spirit of 
love going out into all the exercises of humanity and gentle eon- 
soling, generous, patient charity, such as God extends to the 
thankful and the unthankful, and, above all, deep and serious atten- 
tion to the spiritual wants of the human family. He who does not 
view the race of man as one family of which he is a brother, and 
who does not find his heart yearning after the spiritual good of 
nations, still sunk in horrid darkness and ignorance, is not a child 
of God, nor a coheir with Christ in eternal glorv. Such are the 



LECTURE XXXVI. 



195 



principles of our duty to our fellow creatures. But it is one thing 
to receive the word, and another to bring forth the fruits of good 
living; "to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with God;" 
44 to do unto all men, as we would wish them to do unto us." Per- 
haps the most interesting and useful sermon ever penned might be 
written upon this last text. For let it be asked the animal, man, 
what that is which he would wish men to do unto him, and the 
answer evidently would partake of the character of the man's own 
soul. The worldly niggard would say, "I wish men to leave me 
undisturbed, to take care of myself; then let me leave my fellow 
creatures to provide for themselves." Do so, and thy " money 
perish with thee." That which a man soweth, that shall he reap. 
The sensual voluptuary will say, " I would wish men to give me a 
share in all their enjoyments, honor, pleasure, amusement; these are 
what I desire, these am I ready to partake with my friends. I am 
no niggard." Enjoy them, then, and indulge the pleasures of the 
social appetite ; but open the door of your next neighbor's house, 
and see the want and misery it displays. If you were that man, 
what would you wish 1 If you cannot now realize a change of 
destiny, you will be permitted to enjoy all your sensual delights 
to the natural period of their existence ; you cannot expect them 
to last longer ; but in the day of judgment, you will have to depend 
upon them for your reward, for them only have you served. But 
if you say, " I would wish men to forego their temporal pleasures, 
as the Lord Jesus did, and give their lives for the eternal felicity 
of my immortal soul," then this is what you will know you are 
commanded to do for men, and you will willingly, gladly, give 
yourself, all that you are, and all that you have, for the spiritual 
good of mankind ; you will be jealously afraid that your heart has 
deceitfully kept back part of the price, and that God sees the spiri- 
tual fraud and will not be satisfied. What you hold, you will hold 
as a father, a guardian of your brethren for their benefit, that it 
may be turned to the best account in their service. You will use 
your personal influence to promote truth and righteousness ; your 
money to alleviate the miseries of man, widening your sphere as 
far as possible ; and when you can go no farther in person, you 
will aid those who can, and will go with your means and your 
prayers, until the love of Christ which is in you extend its blessed 
influence to the uttermost parts of the earth ; and the gladdened 
heart of the man of God, watching for souls in the solitary gloom 
of some heathen land, swells with joy as he dispenses the bread of 
life, which your bounty had provided, to the perishing souls of the 
heathen. 

Duties to our fellow creatures are both active and passive. 
Passive duty is, to refrain from doing any thing which may injure 
others, but how wide a line of demarcation is this. Think of the in- 
fluence of bad example. What misery may not millions suffer from 



196 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



this cause ! And again, what infinite blessedness is lost to millions 
by sins of omission. Observe, our Lord's condemnation states no 
sins of commission, as the ground of eternal punishment. h In as 
much as ye have not done it unto the least of these, depart into 
everlasting punishment." Up then ! let us lose no time ; let us work 
while it is day, for the night cometh in which no man worketh. 
Let us press forward towards the mark of the prize of our high call- 
ing in Christ Jesus, as a peculiar people, zealous of good works, 
whom God hath consecrated to himself, in the holy labors of Chris- 
tian benevolence. 

Again, our duties to our fellow creatures are to be divided into 
three classes ; duties to our superiors, duties to our equals, and 
duties to our inferiors. Those are our superiors who excel us in 
knowledge, wisdom, or virtue, or simply in the experience of age. 
Certainly it is for our own happiness that we should grow up with 
a supreme veneration for these qualities. It is the foundation of 
true religion : and to honor God in his moral image, wherever we 
find it, is the essential preservative of our love for him. Gratitude, 
which is the purest feeling of the heart, is the real foundation of 
reverence for age. Mental association with parental authority 
impresses us with this sentiment toward all whom we suppose, 
from their appearance, to have this claim upon youth. 

" Think of thy father, and this face behold ; 
See him in me, as helpless and as old." 

Yet, it may indeed be, that you have never felt the blessing of a 
father's affectionate and judicious care. Then you must, if you 
reflect a moment, have even a higher appreciation of age. You 
know from sad experience, of what privileges your youth has been 
deprived. " Rise up, therefore, before the hoary head, and honor 
the face of the old man." So, if your years be prolonged, until 
tottering under the weight of « twice forty times your wintry sun's 
return," your feeble frame requires some stronger prop, manhood 
shall check his rapid pace, and lend his vigorous arm to aid your 
trembling limbs; youth shall wait around, and, wondering at the 
silvery locks, and care-worn furrows of your brow, shall mingle 
the soft tones of love and pity, with their venerating awe ; child- 
hood shall meet you with its brightest smile, and fly to place the 
hospitable seat, and love to feel your aged hand rest in the ringlets 
of its own bright head. 

Our peculiar duties to our superiors are to pay them the external 
deference, which is a faithful indication of our esteem for them. 
To consider and acknowledge whatever real advantages they 
possess from superior education, experience, virtue, or intelligence ; 
and to feel that never do we honor ourselves more, than when we 
evince our respect for those who merit it. 

Our duties to our equals are first, justice, in all our relations to 



LECTURE XXXVI. 



197 



society; and, when this is fulfilled, chanty in the full scope of its 
divine requisitions, as laid down by St. Paul in the 1 3th chapter of 
1 Corinthians. Those are our equals in society, who have it in 
their power to do as much for us, as we can do for them. Conse- 
quently, if we give to these more than we receive from them, we 
do so as a duty to God and our own souls. We do so because 
God does so ; we do so because our hope is that God will do so 
for us hereafter. Our individual advantages are seldom balanced. 
The average may be equal; but each one has some deficiency 
which throws him below us, some superiority which restores the 
equality. Justice then would demand that, where I have the 
advantage, I should aid him; where he has the advantage he 
should aid me. If, however, I mean to maintain my claims to 
generosity and benevolence, I shall not make a barter of my social 
virtues ; I shall do my fellow creatures good, hoping for nothing 
again. I shall be kind to the thankful and the unthankful. I shall 
never cease to do him all the good in my power, knowing that my 
first and universal duty to my fellow creatures is, to set them an 
example. To let them see my good works, that they may also 
glorify my Father who made me capable of such virtues. 

Duties to our inferiors are infinitely more noble, godlike, and 
beneficial to ourselves and to the world, than the other classes; 
because they look for no temporal rewards. The poor are our 
inferiors in external advantages. The vicious, the ignorant, and 
children are our inferiors in a moral sense. Though we may be 
poor ourselves, there are perhaps some who are still more so. 
Although we may be young, destitute, not good, nor wise, yet there 
are some worse, some more ignorant, some younger than we, and 
over these God has given us a superiority which we are bound to 
use for the best purposes. Generous benevolence, impartial justice, 
and perseverance are the virtues peculiarly called for, in these high 
duties. And, in their performance, we shall find our rewards ten- 
fold in the present world ; and in the world to come, life everlasting. 

1. How are we to be made practically acquainted with our duties to our fel- 
low creatures ? 2. For what did our Saviour labor and die ? 3. How should 
we view the whole race of man ? 4. What use should we make of our personal 
influence and wealth ? 5. How are our duties to our fellow creatures divided ? 
6. Does not our Lord condemn sins of omission as the ground of eternal 
punishment ? 7. How, again, may our duties to our fellow creatures be divid- 
ed ? 8. Who are our superiors ? 9. What are our peculiar duties to our supe- 
riors? 10. What to our equals? 11. Who are our equals in society? 12. 
What example should we set our fellow creatures ? 13. Who are our infe- 
riors in a moral sense ? 14. What virtues are peculiarly called for in these 
duties ? 

17* 



198 POPULAR LECTURES. 

LECTURE XXXVIL 

RIGHT OF PROPERTY. 

God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath established it, he 
created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited.— Is., xlv., 18. 

In a classification of our duties to our fellow creatures, justice 
stands before beneficence, because it is reasonable we should give 
to men what is their due, before we presume to credit ourselves 
for act.s of supererogatory liberality to them. Justice consists in 
giving, or allowing to others that which they have a right to ; and 
consequently, justice is our first obligation. God says, "let him that 
gioryeth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that 
I exercise justice in the earth; for in it I delight." By the term so 
applied, it is meant that God who made man, and knows him 
perfectly, judges him, not according to an arbitrary will, but ac- 
cording to the use or abuse of the power he has given him. He 
measures out, according to the performances of man, a due meed 
of praise or blame, of reward or punishment, because he delights in 
justice. Since justice is our first obligation, the ground of right is 
the first subject for investigation with the lawyer and the moralist. 
Justice is the distribution of rights, but to what has any man a 
right, or what has he a right to possess to the exclusion of others ! 
He has natural rights to the common gifts of nature, to light, air, 
&c.; but where did he acquire a right to take possession of a portion 
of the earth to the exclusion of others ; to occupy it, and to give it, 
when he could no longer possess it, to whom he pleased I This 
last is the ground of the laws of inheritance. I design to sSow, 
that if there is any such thing as natural right in property, the right 
of inheritance is as strong as any other right, and as justly de- 
nominated a natural right ; because all natural rights depend upon 
the natural use of the thing possessed. Even the justice of the 
Creator is implicated in his giving to his creatures that which is 
necessary to preserve the existence he has bestowed upon them. 

All rights must be traced back to God. He made all things, and 
consequently all right was in him. But * He created the earth not 
in vain. He made it to be inhabited, and gave it to whom he would." 
In these words we, who believe in the Scriptures, have the decision 
of all doubts with regard to first possession. God gave it to whom he 
would; and his object in making it having been utility, "He made it 
not in vain." He certainly gave it to its inhabitants upon the same 
principle, he gave them the use of it, and never any privilege to 
abuse the gift by any vain appropriation of an undue portion to ille- 
gitimate purposes, since " He made it not in vain." He made it to be 
inhabited, i. e., to support its inhabitants ; and certainly it is to 



LECTURE XXXVH. 199 

counteract the design of its Maker, if it is taken up in great manors, 
and laid waste for the pride or pleasure of man. The latent capa- 
bility of the earth to increase its productions in proportion to the 
skill and industry employed in its cultivation, is an evidence that it 
was intended to be subdivided as the inhabitants increased. For if 
vast tracts are kept lying waste, while many of the inhabitants are 
without the means of subsistence, this is locking up within the bosom 
of the earth, the means by which God has provided for the increase 
of its population. A judicious subdivision of the earth then, as men 
multiplied, was the evident intention of the Creator ; and since he 
kept not in his own hands the execution of his intentions, he 
intended those who were his vicegerents upon earth, those to 
whom he had revealed his will, and entrusted the power to execute 
his purposes and to make this subdivision. Inheritance is the first 
form of subdivision which would probably occur under this law of 
nature. For the Creator having ordained a state of infancy for 
all his creatures, has also ordained parental affection to be the 
means of supplying the necessities of nature during infancy; and 
this is the law of God for all animals ; even the beasts of the field 
and the birds of the air providing diligently for their young, by an 
irresistible law of nature; and the mind of man being formed so as 
to abhor that being as a monster, who does not provide for his 
own offspring. Many circumstances must convince us, that while 
the Creator gave the brutes instinct to lead them to provide for 
their young, he intended the parental tie to assume with man a 
much higher tone, and to become a moral duty of the most sacred 
character. For this purpose, he made the infant more helpless, 
and longer dependent than other young animals ; and he made the 
life of the parent much more precarious, during this period of help- 
lessness ; and in addition to natural affection, he made the reason 
and foresight of man such, that his sense of duty is strongly excit- 
ed to make provision for the sustenance of his children, when he 
feels that he is about to die, and leave them destitute. Having 
brought them into existence, and feeling that they will be many 
years incapable of providing for themselves, his moral and intel- 
lectual faculties are the means which God has ordained for their 
provision in an orphan state. If, as is always admitted of natural 
law, the natural use indicates the natural right, no institution of 
God creates a stronger natural right, than the desire a man has to 
provide for his children. Starving does not create a more perfect 
natural right to food, than the wants of children create a natural 
right to provision from their parents. And if so, then it becomes 
an imperious moral obligation; and God could not deny a right to 
perform those acts which he had made to be moral duties. A man 
is said, by law, to have a right to his own labor ; but the crop that 
a man has planted, or the vessel that he has built, exist after his 
death, and whose are they, if they are not his children's ) The 



200 POPULAR LECTURES. 

children had a right to a maintenance out of them, when their 
father was alive, because God has ordained that all animals should 
provide for their young; and man is included in this general 
provision. If, then, they had a right to a maintenance out of their 
father's property when he lived, have they lost this provision 1 Who 
has more use, or a better right to the produce of their father's in- 
dustry and skill, than they have, whom God committed to his care 
and protection 1 

He gave the earth to Adam and Eve, while they alone were its 
inhabitants, as positive possessors; and he gave it to them also, as 
the representatives of their future descendants. " Replenish the 
earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over it." This was cer- 
tainly a gift to the whole multitude who were subsequently to 
overrun the earth, and^/z// it up, in such numbers and force as to 
subdue it. The children of Adam were to be lords of the whole 
earth, and as one family, they were given dominion over it. Each 
one then had a right to occupy peaceably, where it injured no 
one else, what was wanting for his own purposes. Their purposes 
and wants had no common measure ; one wanted a forest to hunt 
in, another a fertile spot to cultivate. In the earliest ages, when 
there were but few inhabitants upon the earth, it would not proba- 
bly occur that conflicts would arise on this subject. It was easier 
to yield a feeble inclination to a particular location, when the whole 
earth was before men, than to struggle for its possession. The con- 
sent of those immediately concerned was the only point. For a 
man's necessities being always present with him, he had certainly 
a more reasonable claim to the land he stood on than those had 
who were located at a distance and could make no use of it, 
especially since they had, by nature, only an equal right when they 
stood together upon it. There must have been always a general 
tacit understanding that each man was to consider himself as 
having a right to that which he wanted, and no one else wanted. 
and this was most evidently the case with those who were too far 
removed to be consulted, or know any thing of the matter; they 
never had any other right than the common right of which they 
had divested themselves by voluntary absence, ignorance, and in- 
difference. 

God, by his foreknowledge of the increase of population, must 
have made such conditions, implied if not expressed, as should be 
binding upon the first representatives of the human race, that they 
were to establish no law of property which would be detrimental 
to the interests of the future mass of mankind ; consequently, their 
descendants must have come under the same restrictions. Once 
allow that he gave the earth at creation to Adam and Eve ; then. 
except as he affixed conditions to the gift, they had absolute right to 
it ; and what right they had, they could convey. Adam had no 
right to give the whole earth to his eldest son, with the permission 



LECTURE XXXVII. 201 

to exclude his brethren from participation ; because God had de- 
creed that the multitude of his descendants should have dominion 
over it; and a parent had no right to be partial; but the duty of 
Adam, as a parent, was to care equally for the interests of his 
children, and to provide equally for all, if possible. Here then comes 
the great source of difficulty. Adam sees that one son is intelligent, 
provident, and benevolent, while another is overbearing and selfish. 
Another is weak-minded, another indolent, another diseased, ano- 
ther too young to provide for himself, another has died, and left a 
large family of orphan children; what then more unavoidable, than 
that he should give to the most efficient son, a larger portion, and 
constitute him the patriarch of his family. It is for the good of the 
whole ; and, moreover, it is the same in every thing else besides 
property. He must give him authority, personal authority over 
them ; and thus we can easily perceive, what history teaches us, 
that the patriarchal government first obtained among men, and 
was absolute. In the records of antediluvian longevity, scarcely 
more notice is bestowed upon the numberless and nameless sons 
and daughters of the patriarchs, than merely to indicate the relative 
condition of the father. The eldest son became patriarch or prince 
after his father ; and seldom does a younger brother arise to the 
distinction of having his name recorded in the family annals, except 
when, by personal exertions or extraordinary revolutions, they 
become important to mankind. The three sons of Lamech, for 
instance, are mentioned by name ; but it is from their distinguishing 
themselves as the inventors of new modes of profit and pleasure to 
men. One taught them to dwell in tents and keep herds. Another 
invented instrumental music; the third introduced the important 
discovery of working the metals. The same may be observed of 
Noah's three sons. By the destruction of all other men, they were 
raised to equal importance as heads of families. It seems, then, 
that inequality in the actual possession of property is just as much 
the effect of natural and accidental causes, as inequality in years, 
experience, natural intelligence, virtue, health, or any other endow- 
ment. It is very evident that, in the distribution supposed to be 
made by Adam, the end proposed is not to establish inequality 
among his children, but by charging the eldest with the care and 
support of the helpless and inefficient, to provide for them. Not to 
aggrandize one, but to maintain all. One who has to exercise 
authority, should always possess the power of rewarding and pu- 
nishing ; and in the right to convey unequally by will must also be 
an increment to the possession, since it is the only mode in which 
a parent in death can reward a life of virtuous obedience, or pu- 
nish one of vicious disobedience. It is better this right should be 
admitted, although sometimes it should be abused, than that it 
should not exist; upon the principle that an imperfect government 
is better than no government. 



202 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



If it be supposed that each individual shall be invested with an 
equal property and assume his rights, the experiment would soon 
be fully tested, for the industrious and sagacious would quickly 
buy the inheritance of the vicious and inconsiderate for a mess of 
pottage. And this is right ; for the possession of property answers 
several ends in the economy of God's providence. First, it is ne- 
cessary to the support of families ; next, it is an incitement to en- 
terprise and inc.ustry. Suppose a district to be equally divided 
between six families ; five of them are widows, the sixth a man. 
The widows have large families of small children, the man a fami- 
ly of sons able to labor. The women and children are starving, 
because they have no means of working their land. They have land, 
but the man has more labor than he can make use of on his land ; he 
agrees to exchange his labor for their land, and thus, in a fair ex- 
change, becomes to hold all the land, while they are maintained with 
their families. Is this wrong 1 Certainly not ; it is for the benefit of 
all parties; and thus unequal distribution of property is fairly account- 
ed for by the inequality of other natural possessions. Man has 
certainly a perfect right to his own labor, and the fruit of his own 
industry he may dispose of as he pleases : no one has a right to 
prescribe to him any disposition of it. What use he makes of it 
is between God and his conscience. Certainly, however, the Cre- 
ator never intended that some of the most meritorious of his crea- 
tures should starve, while others are rolling in luxury or dying of 
surfeit. Man has higher duties than the accumulation of wealth 
imposed upon him by his connexion with mankind ; but yet he is 
permitted to let his neighbor perish with hunger while he feasts 
luxuriously, simply because this world is a state of probation or 
trial, and men are allowed to do evil if they please. Exclusive 
right to property is given to individuals for several purposes : First. 
because it enables a man to provide for a family, and encourages 
him to subdue it, i. e., to take it away from the wild beasts and cul- 
tivate it. Secondly, because it offers a premium to industry since 
labor of body and mind are both encouraged by the stimulating 
hope of reward. As this cannot always be effected fully in a man's 
own person, the reward is extended to his children and children's 
children. This is all right ; but the love of gain should be subor- 
dinated to justice and benevolence, and justice, as well as benevo- 
lence, requires that he should consider the wants of others before 
his own superfluities ; for although his rights to his property are 
perfect against men, yet they are conditional with regard to God. 
He permits men to occupy until he comes, on condition that they 
be prepared, when he conies to judgment, to show how they have 
used the wealth he gave them. With this, it is true, courts of hu- 
man jurisdiction have no concern ; but the moralist perceives that 
the terms of the tenure from God involve greatly the most import- 
ant consideration in the subject. A goGd man cannot desire to 






LECTURE XXXVII. 203 

hoard up riches, while human beings are suffering for food. He 
will even be regulated by moral obligation, and, considering him- 
self as generously provided for by Providence, he will, in justice 
and gratitude, feel bound to provide for the poor and destitute who 
are placed within the sphere of his charity, and will delight thus to 
exemplify the great moral principle — imitation of the Deity. So 
far of natural law ; but it is most evident that that is now merely 
applicable to the government of conscience, and cannot possibly be 
enforced by human governments. For nations and individuals 
have so long set aside this law, that it seems to be impossible to re- 
instate its authority. Fraud and violence have become the great 
foundations of actual possession, since almost every country has 
changed its possessors by violence, and possession is of necessity 
admitted as sufficient right until a stronger claim is established. 
Richard Galloway, a Derbyshire farmer, purchased a patent right 
to a tract of land, in Maryland, from the British government, some 
two hundred years ago, and I doub& whether I, his heir, have any 
right which I could plead in heaven against the daughter of an In- 
dian chief, whose pipes and hatchets, buried in the soil, remain as 
memorials of his earlier proprietorship. The only right Richard 
Galloway could purchase, in England, was security against the in- 
terference of British subjects with his quiet possession of this pro- 
perty ; and I, his heir, have no right but that which my ancestor 
purchased — the right of not being disturbed in my possession un- 
til some one individual else can prove a better right than mine. 
This, however, is a right of the greatest importance, since evident- 
ly, if it were always respected, no wrongs would ever be done to 
national or individual rights. Instead of wresting by wars of ex- 
termination, at a vast expense of life and money, lands from the 
poor Indians, they would be suffered to hold their territories and 
be protected by their fellow creatures until such purchases could 
be made from them as would induce them willingly to surrender 
their rights. The value of compensation for property should cer- 
tainly be regulated by the opinion of the actual possessors ; nor 
would it impair the acquired title, that the purchaser had given but 
a string of beads for a princely estate. Each party must be allow- 
ed to set a value upon his own property ; and to the Indian the 
rare productions of civilized life might be of greater value than 
the land which he does not cultivate. Penn thus acquired a right 
to Pennsylvania which none can justly dispute. That possession 
should be a bar to all claims which cannot be proved rests upon 
this principle : One, who holds property, has either a right of in- 
heritance, which is of immemorial date, (such as the Indians have,) 
in which case it is presumed to be the original gift of God : or, he 
has a right which is recently acquired, in which case it is fair to 
presume that, if it were not justly obtained by purchase or barter, 
the facts must be capable of proof, and the right of another be also 



204 POPULAR LECTURES. 

susceptible of proof. However this principle may sometimes be 
the ground of unavoidable abuses, it is on the whole the safest and 
most just principle, and consequently that which society should, 
for its own safety, most jealously maintain. This presumption of 
the equity of possession is a conventional principle of law, which 
must have commenced very early ; for, although it operates far- 
ther than pure natural law can do, since it often protects injustice 
against innocence, yet as inhabitants multiplied and provisions re- 
quired to be multiplied in proportion, the father of a family, or the 
son of aged parents, would necessarily become sensible of the ad- 
vantage of laying up for the future ; and efforts would be made to 
extend the possession of property beyond the present wants. But 
this very necessity would often prove cause of dissension and vio- 
lence, because the improvident or unfortunate would hardly endure 
present suffering without a jealousy of what a prudent, provident 
brother had laid up for possible contingencies. How then was the 
case to be determined I Was the prudent father of a family to 
waste the children's bread upon an idle spendthrift ? No, not 
waste ; but that is not wasted which is necessary to the preserva- 
tion of life ; and as for future contingencies, the fountain of God's 
power and goodness, whence all these things flowed, is as full as 
ever. He gives the poor spendthrift life and breath, and will you 
see him famish and not open your stores to give him bread 1 If 
all, who are suffering and require your aid, are your neighbors, as 
Jesus teaches, and you are commanded to love your neighbors as 
yourself, you are then to take as much from your stores for your 
neighbor's necessities as you would take for your own. Not that 
he has a right to your property or your labor, (he may not take it 
away from you,) but God has ever reserved the right of requiring 
from you exertions of the benevolent affections. He has given 
your poor brother a right to your pity, your compassion, even for 
his vices and indolence ; and this is the true and only claim the 
poor have. It is for that reason our Savior declined interfering in 
the right of property : " Man, who made me a divider between thee 
and thy brother." It was no part of the dispensation of Christ to 
settle what had been determined by God in the creation, that a 
man should have a right to take that which he wanted and no one 
else wanted ; that property must be transferable at will ; and that 
it should never be taken away from him or those to whom he de- 
sired to give it, but as the pimishment of crime; and then, of 
course, by impartial administration of justice, a man's property 
may be, and is taken from him, and consequently from his children, 
as his life is, when it is forfeited to society by offences against the 
whole. But in offences against individuals there can be no such 
penalty, unless in cases of personal injury, where it is supposed 
that eveiy man's life and property would be the prey of violence 
and crime, if men were not under fear of such severe punishment 



LECTURE XXXVII. 



20i 



as they would not risk incurring for the advantage to be gained. 
Property in any thing necessarily implies that we have a right to 
make use of it ; consequently we are the sole judges of what uses 
we think best to'make of it. I think it best to keep my property ; 
no other person can judge of my motives. A certain monk, in 
France, was extremely beloved for his charities, but his heart was 
rent with the miseries that preyed upon the poor of the city in 
which he lived ; they were so wretched that they could not labor, 
and every year epidemics carried off numbers of them. The phy- 
sicians said it was the want of good water, but the city was too 
poor to build an aqueduct. Suddenly the benevolent monk, who 
used to alleviate so much their miseries, became a hard-hearted 
miser. He never gave even to the starving a morsel of bread, but 
traversed France, and even other countries, begging; and they 
were perfectly certain, although so penurious, that he was immense- 
ly rich. Those, who formerly loved him so much, came at last to 
detest him ; they were ready to stone him to death whenever he 
appeared. At last the good man died and the mystery was solved. 
He had hoarded a sum sufficient to enable the city to build a grand 
aqueduct. It was done, and the city became one of the most flou- 
rishing in France, and a resort for health. It is here evident, that 
it was better for the community that their power over this man's 
property was restrained, even so far as to permit him to lay up 
treasures while they were starving. If in this case it is evident, 
why not in others 1 The principle applies to all cases. It must be 
presumed that a man knows best what to do with his own proper- 
ty, and his thoughts not being within our ken, we have no right to 
judge them. His incapacity to hold his property is very justly 
limited by law to his not giving distinct evidence of mental imbe- 
cility or derangment. If he has lost his capacity to use it rational- 
ly, the law protects him from himself, and does for him what it is 
supposed he would do if he enjoyed his reason. 

As a point in moral philosophy, the question then is resolved into 
this : What use has a man a right to make of that which the Pro- 
vidence of God has given him 1 What principle is he to consult in 
disposing of his wealth 1 Should he not have respect to the noble 
suggestions of his moral sentiments, and value his possessions ex- 
actly in proportion as they enable him to do good ? Certainly such 
is the intention of the Creator, who has made abundantly evident 
the fact, that the happiness of ,_man is much more promoted by using 
his energies in doing good to others, than in pampering himself 
and hoarding useless wealth. 

1. Why does justice stand before beneficence? 2. What does God say of 
his own justice? 3. What is the first subject of inquiry in law and morals ? 
4. What has man a right to possess to the exclusion of others ? 5. If he has 
a right to possess a portion of the earth, has he a natural right to give after his 
death? 6. Why has he a right to bequeath property to his children ? 7. To 

18 



206 POPULAR LECTURES. 

whom must we trace back all rights ? 8. What does the Scripture say of the 
object of creating the earth ? 9. How then does He give it to the inhabitants ? 
10. What is the evidence that it was intended to be subdivided ? 11. If large 
tracts are taken up by individuals and lie waste, what effect does this produce > 
12. Who were intrusted to make the subdivision ? 13. What law of nature, 
to which all animals are subject ? 14. How is man peculiarly subject to it ? 
15. How did God ordain this superior obligation ? 16. What is the strongest 
parental tie ? 17. What right is as strong as the right of a starving man to 
food ? 18. Could that be denied to be a right which is necessary to the per- 
formance of a duty ? 19. Does not the nature of man lead him to provide for 
his children in case of his death ? 20. Then have they not a natural right to 
the provision he has made for them ? 21. How did he give the earth to Adam 
and Eve ? 22. How is the gift ascertained to be general or universal ? 23. if all 
had equal rights, how was each one to determine his share ? 24. Was it pos- 
sible to divide it equally ? 25. Whose consent would be nenessary in taking 
up property? 26. Why not those in distant lands, what is presumed of them ? 
27. Why do we suppose the Deity gave conditional possession ? 28. What 
conditions would he impose? 29. Could Adam and Eve give a right to pro- 
perty ? 30. On what condition? 31. What difficulty had Adam to meet? 
32. Why was patriarchal government instituted ? 33. Why were the sons of 
Lamech noticed in history ? 34. Why were the sons of Noah distinguished ? 
35. What must necessarily arise from a right to property ? 36. On what prin- 
ciple is it best that parents should be permitted to disinherit their children ? 
37. What would be the effect if property were equally divided ? 38. What 
ends are answered by the rights of property ? 39. What is said of the ex- 
change of labor for land ? 40. Is this wrong? 41. What has man a perfect right 
to ? 42. To whom is he answerable ? 43. Why does God permit an abuse of his 
gifts ? 44. What other reasons besides the support of a family are given for 
property ? 45. What for a right of inheritance ? 46. What should love of 
gain be subordinated to ? 47. What does God permit ? 48. Can human courts 
have control over conscience ? 49. What will a good man not desire ? 50. 
What will he consider? 51. What is right now founded upon ? 52. What is 
possession founded upon generally ? 53. How is this illustrated? 54. What 
is said of a respect for the right of possession ? 55. If we had had this how 
would we have treated the Indians? 56. How must the value of compensa- 
tion be determined ? 57. Why may it be just to purchase an estate with a 
string of beads ? 58. Why should possession bar all claims which cannot 
be proved? 59. What is a conventional law ? 60. What would be the con- 
sequence of inhabitants multiplying? 61. What sacrifice should be made for 
the vicious and indolent ? 62. Why if he has no right to my property ? 63. 
What right does God reserve always ? 64. What does our Savior say, and 
why? 65. When does man fofeit his right to property? 66. How does he 
do so by offences against individuals ? 67. What right is always implied in 
the term property ? 68. What was the example of the monk ? 69. What 
does this example prove ? 70. What incapacitates a man to hold property? 
71. What protection does the law afford him in this case ? 72. What is the 
question in ethics ? 



LECTURE XXXVIII. 207 

LECTURE XXXVIH. 

JUSTICE, OR RECIPROCAL DUTIES. 

The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more, 
to the perfect day. — Prov., iv., 18. 

Justice, in the Creator, is a principle which has reference only to 
his own character. His creatures have no rights but those he has 
given them. He speaks, in Scripture, of justifying himself, and the 
term means — making it evident that he has done every thing, that 
could justly be done, for those he had brought into existence; and 
the principle of justice requires, that the creature, who has received 
all the blessings of his being from the hand of God, should do the 
utmost for himself and others, which God intends him to do. For 
himself, that it may be evident God has done, or provided to be 
done, all that was necessary for the happiness of his creatures ; for 
others, that they may have that aid and blessing, which God has 
appointed for them, in the relations of human charity. Justice, as 
a moral principle, must have respect to the will of God in the 
appropriation of those things which he has made for the use of 
mankind ; and Mr. Locke is perfectly right when he says, " it is a 
foolish and dishonest thing for a man to hoard useless wealth, 
while others are starving." The miser, who locks it up and starves 
himself, while he suffers the continual dread of being robbed, is the 
most foolish and dishonest of all men ; because he cheats himself 
of the pleasure of existence, which he might have had in a rational 
and liberal enjoyment of his wealth in doing good, and sacrifices 
the rewards of eternity, without having chosen even the perishable 
pleasures of time. The sensualist, who says to himself, "I have 
much goods in store, let me eat, drink and be merry," has the se- 
vere sentence of the Almighty Judge already published against him, 
" Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be taken from thee." The sin 
of this condemned fool is not implied in the mere fact that he has 
much goods laid up in store ; but that his wealth, instead of mak- 
ing him generous, and useful to society, has made him selfish and 
sensual. The poor French monk, mentioned in our last lecture, 
died rich, and went, no doubt, to join Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. 
Man is the steward of God's bounties ; and if he is not able to ren- 
der to his Master, at the close of his life, a good account of how he 
has distributed the things committed to his charge, he will certainly 
be condemned as a dishonest and foolish person. But we have 
not the power of seeing into his motives with sufficient accuracy 
to judge of the true nature of his actions, therefore he must be 
left to do as he will with his own. Justice requires that a man 
should provide for his own children; this, we suppose, gives him a 



208 POPULAR LECTURES. 

natural right to leave his property by will ; for, if they have a na- 
tural right to provision from him, it is his duty to make that provision ; 
and if it is his duty, he must have a right from God to the means. 
Consequently, as his children are not always protected and pro- 
vided for in other ways, it is the evident intention of Providence that 
he should secure them his property after his death. But it is also 
the duty of a man to bring up his children as valuable members of 
society ; and, since society permits him to enjoy the protection of 
their institutions, it is but just that he should do his best to make 
good citizens and useful subjects of those beings whom he has 
introduced into life. He is, therefore, bound to his fellow creatures, 
and the just God, to educate his children in the purest and most 
elevated principles of morality. If he has done so, he may justly 
appoint them to take his own place, and succeed to his sacred office 
of steward of God's bounties. But if his children are incapable, 
imbecile, or depraved, it is his duty to provide liberally for their 
future maintenance, and appropriate the residue of his property 
justly to better purposes than to be squandered in vice or folly, or 
hoarded with heartless selfishness. So far we have merely con- 
sidered the operation of justice as it regards property. But it is 
the foundation of all morality, an attribute of Deity, and the ground 
work of all reciprocal duties. Justice requires that we should be 
willing to do as much for others as they have done for us. Conse- 
quently, since God has given us life, and breath, and all things, we 
should be willing to devote these his gifts to his service. Next to 
our duty to God, comes the obligation of justice in domestic rela- 
tions. To parents, wife, children, friends, neighbors, servants, man 
has his respective duties, all founded upon the obligations of justice. 
The duties between earthly parents and their children are certainly 
reciprocal. The duty of parents is, first, to support their children, 
and educate them in all moral and religious duties, in intellectual 
and practical knowledge, as far as they have the means and the 
power to do so, by a patient exercise of parental authority. It is 
their duty to place them in the best situation they can, to render 
their lives useful, respectable and happy. These duties necessarily 
involve the parent in much anxiety, labor and expense, and, conse- 
quently, impose upon the children the duties of obedience and 
gratitude ; of obedience, so long as that is necessary to enable the 
parent to effect the purposes of governing and educating them as 
children ; and of gratitude, so long as they continue to enjoy bless- 
ings derived from the care, protection, educarion, and provision 
afforded them by the parent, ?'. e. as long as they live, and if the 
parent has been faithful, even throughout eternity. The case must 
be a very rare one, in which justice does not demand of the child 
gratitude towards its parents, since so much care and attention is 
necessary even to preserve the life of an infant, that it can scarcely 
grow up without owing much to those who have nurtured it in 



LECTURE XXXVIII. 209 

childhood. If parents have grossly violated their duty by desert- 
ing or maltreating their children, any tie which binds the child to 
its parent must be on a different principle from the justice of recip- 
rocal duties. If the first duty of life is obedience and gratitude to 
parents, this means only that it comes first into operation ; for, no 
sooner does man come to the maturity of his being than, by the 
consent of God and man, it is admitted that the tie he forms for 
himself supersedes all others ; and he is called upon to leave father 
and mother, to fulfil its assumed duties. The duties of husband 
and wife require that, as each is peculiarly dependent for their 
comfort and happiness upon the other, they should each do every 
thing, and omit nothing, which they have it in their power to do, 
for each other. The woman most exclusively gives herself up to 
the promotion of the man's happiness, reserving no interests in life 
unconnnected with his ; whereas, the man has a connexion with 
the world, from which he derives honor and pleasures in which 
she has no participation. Considering that there is no natural 
cause why a woman's happiness should be less regarded than a 
man's, justice requires that the husband should never, from selfish- 
ness, pursue any course which would necessarily be inconsistent 
with the wife's happiness, as he justly requires that his wife should 
do nothing inconsistent with his happiness. The marriage tie, 
indeed, is very imperfect and very inadequate to effect the various 
highly important objects for which it was instituted, unless it is 
formed between those who are prepared to identify their mutual 
interests, and frequently each to prefer the other to themselves. 

Guardians and teachers are bound to fulfil to their wards and 
pupils, the duties of parents, as perfectly as the circumstances will 
permit. To do every thing for the present happiness of the child, 
which a just consideration of its future welfare will allow. And the 
corresponding obligation on the part of the child is, by obedience, 
diligence, respect, and gratitude, to render the performance of the 
arduous duties connected with the guardianship of youth, as suc- 
cessful, easy, and agreeable as possible. These duties are evi- 
dently required by justice, and that they are institutions of God is 
evinced by the happy effects produced by their performance, and 
the misery which follows a disregard of them. How much more 
perfect would the education of youth be, if the efforts of friends 
and teachers were sustained in the business of forming the charac- 
ters, manners, and minds of the young, by those for whom they are 
laboring, instead of being often thwarted in every way, that inge- 
nuity can devise, by those who alone are to be benefited by their 
success. Happy, indeed, should I be, could I make the young sen- 
sible, that reason, religion, gratitude and a concern for their own 
future happiness and respectability, demand that they should 
heartily co-operate in every measure adopted by their guardians 
and teachers for their good. It is but just to themselves and their 

18* 



210 POPULAR LECTURES. 

friends. Yet God rewards it, as if to do themselves justice were to 
do him a service. The next class of reciprocal duties is between 
masters and servants. That there must ever be grades in society 
appears not only certain but necessary, because there are varieties 
in individual character which will always degrade some in the scale 
of society, and elevate others ; and there are, by the natural con- 
stitution of things, occupations and offices to suit all these varieties 
of capacity, in which men as naturally find their level as water 
does amid the hills and valleys of the earth. It is but just, that 
while those who, by education and other outward circumstances, 
are prepared to fill offices and perform services to society, in which 
superior knowledge and education are called for, others, who have 
not the means of being useful in so high a sphere, should fill the 
lower offices, so that a learned man should not be interrupted in 
his intellectual labors by the necessity for cooking his own dinner, 
nor cleaning his own boots. But the cooking the dinner and clean- 
ing the boots are perhaps even more important to the comfort of 
society than the labors of the scholar, therefore, there is a respect 
due from the higher classes to the lower ; and while those, who de- 
pend upon others for employment, are in duty bound to be respect- 
ful, and faithful in the performance of the obligations they have un- 
dertaken, the employer, (no matter whether lie employs slave or 
free labor,) is bound, by the principles of reciprocal obligation, to 
perform the duty he owes to the laborer by faithful remunera- 
tion, by patience, benevolence, and that politeness to which all 
human beings have a right from others. All the foundations of 
society rest upon the basis of reciprocal duty. Legal instruments, 
contracts, conveyances, deeds, leases, &c, demand some conside- 
ration, or benefit received for the benefit bestowed. National 
government can never be permanent but upon this principle. The 
government must protect and provide for the people with parental 
care,' faithfulness and energy; the people, in consideration of these 
benefits received, must sustain and reward their rulers by a just 
compensation in salary, by obedience to the laws, and co-operation 
in the efforts of the rulers for the good of the whole. The duty of 
governments is to be impartially devoted to promoting the good 
and prosperity of the whole community. For the people, then, to 
use their local interests so far, as to interfere with the good of the 
whole community, is to counteract the highest duties of the govern- 
ment ; and in a republic, where the people choose then own rulers, 
is absurd as well as unjust. The discontented pendulum should 
not stop the clock; but, so soon as the people are convinced 
that their rulers are unworthy or incompetent, setting aside all 
personal or party considerations, they should proceed to remove 
and replace them by men of integrity, intelligence and education, 
such men as would be incapable of sacrificing the interests of so- 
ciety to their own passions, prejudices, or ambition. The rights of 



LECTURE XXXVIII. 211 

the governors, arising out of a faithful performance of duty, are, to 
the respect, gratitude, obedience, and co-operation of the subjects 
such as a child owes to its parents; the rights of the subjects are, 
to a protection of their general and individual rights, (i. e. natural 
rights which we have before explained,) and a promotion of each 
man's prosperity and happiness, as far as is consistent with the 
rights of others. If there is any other duty of life not enforced 
here, I can only say, the same principle is applicable to every hu- 
man relation. To strangers, to friends, to acquaintances, to ene- 
mies, we owe justice ; i. e., we are bound to withhold nothing from 
them which they have a right to, neither comfort, pleasure, reputa- 
tion, property, nor any other imaginable good. For, if the worst 
enemy we had in life had done a virtuous deed and it depended 
upon us to make it known, and to obtain for him his meed of praise, 
we should be bound in justice to do so, although it shall crown 
him with glory and cover ourselves with shame. In performing 
such an act of justice we could not, however, incur shame, for the 
godlike exercise of the first of virtues required for such an action 
would prove our elevation of character to be far above the low 
measures of human praise or blame. We should feel satisfied that 
we were in the path of the just, which shineth more and more unto 
the perfect day, and that our course of disinterested virtue would 
terminate in glory, honor, and immortality. 

1. What is the principle of justice in the Creator? 2. What signifies the 
term "justifying himself?'' 3. What does the principle of justice require in 
the creature? 4. Who is the most foolish and dishonest of all men? 5. In 
what did the sin of the condemned fool ronsist? 6. Does justice require that 
a man should provide for his own children ? 7. What natural right does this 
give iiim ? 8. How is a man bound to bring up his children, as he enjoys the 
protection of the institution of society ? 9. How should he provide for those 
who are imbecile or depraved ? 10. Since God has given us life, and breath, 
and all things, what use should we make of these gifts? 11. What obligation 
of justice comes next to our duty to God ? 12. What is the duty of parents 
towards their children ? 13. How long should the duties of gratitude and obe- 
dience be exercised by children towards their parents ? 14. Does not the tie 
which man forms for himself supersede all others ? 15. What are the recipro- 
cal duties of husband and wife ? 16. What are the duties of guardians and 
teachers? 17. What of their pupils? 18. Should not children co-operate in 
the measures adopted by their guardians and teachers ? 19. Is it necessary 
that there should be grades in society ? 20. What are the reciprocal duties of 
masters and servants ? 21. What are the reciprocal duties of the government and 
its subjects? 22. What are the reciprocal rights of government and the people ? 
23. Should we not exercise this principle towards our worst enemies ? 



21^ POPULAR LECTURES. 

LECTURE XXXIX-= 

CHARITY, OR BENEVOLENCE. 

Now the end of the commandment is, charity out of a pure heart. 

1 Tim., i 

Charity is called in the scriptures " the bond of perfectness." 
What a beautiful, and what a just definition ! Concise and com- 
plete definitions are the result of a perfect comprehension of the 
import of the words defined. Read the 1 3th of Corinthians, and 
see, if Saint Paul's descriptions, illustrations and explanations of 
charity bear him out in this concise definition. What are all gifts, 
powers, accomplishments, labors, works, without it ! Nothing, for 
all these things, languages of the earth, knowledge of temporal 
things, clothing and feeeding the poor, and even the suffering of 
martyrdom, come to a rapid termination, and might as well not 
have been, unless a spirit of love, derived from that Spirit which 
created the soul and binds it to itself in the bonds of perfectness, 
has inspired it to all these outward acts*. You have studied the 
languages of the earth, and expounded the scriptures of truth, or 
God has even inspired you supernaturally to do so, and you have not 
even charity towards those to whom you are proudly exhibiting 
the treasures of your knowledge in selfish ostentation. God is in- 
structing others through you, but you are but as the sounding 
brass or the tinkling cymbal, and will have no more merit hereaf- 
ter than the broken brass, or the worn out cymbal. Have you 
been inspired with terror of the justice of God, and has fear of the 
fire threatened against those, who relieve not the wants of the poor, 
determined you to escape the vengeance of the Almighty, by giving 
your wealth to the poor and your body to be burned } Does God 
want your aid to maintain the poor, or does he aelight in burnt 
offerings 1 No; give a cup of cold water, nay, give a thought of 
pity in your inmost heart, breathe one aspiration of warm hearted 
prayer for the welfare of the miserable victim of sorrow or sin, 
and this is more than whole burnt offerings. But how is charity 
the bond of perfectness? It is the bond which alone can unite us to 
perfection. 

I am persuaded, that if (as we have ever maintained,) the human 
being is to be perfected by cultivating in the soul its resemblance 
to God, this resemblance is in nothing so naturally striking as in 
the principle of benevolence. Power in man is most evidently 
the energy of other qualities. The more benevolence is cultivated 
in the soul, the more power the mind has to do good, and conse- 
quently the more like its Maker it becomes. It is the benevolence 
and wisdom of the Deity which arrange all external things for the 



LECTURE XXXIX. 213 

full development of the same principles in the creature, and I have 
always felt deeply touched by the secondary meaning of our 
Savior's words, " The poor have ye always with you." 

What a provision for the development of every virtue is made 
in this perpetuity of the claims of the poor upon our benevolence. 
Surely, were not some great moral good dependent upon the ex- 
istence of human suffering and want, God himself would have 
remedied the evil which we have not the power to alleviate, but 
which teaches our hearts to melt and our eyes to overflow with 
compassion. What, then, is this great good? Is it not patience, 
which suffereth long, and is kind, like God 1 Is it not modesty, 
which envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up 1 Is it not 
justice, gentleness, meekness, courtesy, generosity, directed to their 
proper objects ?- What virtue, lovely and of good repute, is there, 
that is not developed by the spirit-stirring energy of charity? 
What enjoyment of existence is there, temporal or eternal, that 
does not depend upon the exercise of charity 1 Our own least 
comforts and pleasures are drawm from the full fountain of it, in 
the Deity. God, who created us with every natural inlet to plea- 
sure, with sensibility to the charms of seeing, hearing, smelling, 
feeling, thinking and tasting, and provided these senses for our gra- 
tification, is Love himself Charitas— charity, means love. Charity 
in us is a moral principle derived from the Deity, which gives us 
more, the more we cultivate that which he has given ; and who 
promises us the highest enjoyment of it in heaven, if we cultivate 
that which he has given us in this world. As a bond by which we 
are united to God, we give it a different appellation and call it 
love, to distinguish it from the sentiment which binds us to our 
neighbor. We do not, in common use, call the tie which binds us 
to our equals charity, but philanthropy. The weakness of the hu- 
man mind is such, that we cannot endure to be considered as ob- - 
jects of charity by our fellow creatures, because the admission 
seems to be, that they are in something superior to us, if they can 
extend good offices to us. Miserable, imbecile pride of helpless 
beings, who must be dependent even in their loftiest exaltation of 
rank and wealth, upon the charity of menials for their hourly com- 
forts ; for who is there, that is happy with the cold, unfeeling service 
of a heartless hireling ] Is not the gentle, pitying voice, and care- 
ful, noiseless step of the kind hearted nurse, as sweet to Ceesar on 
the couch of pain, as crowns and sceptres in the hour of pride 1 
Blessed spirit, sweet tie of sympathy ! 

" The flower we've nursed is the flower we love ;" 

Sad also were the hours of hopeless, wasting, mortal disease, did 
not the human heart cling, with a fonder interest, to its cherished 
objects the longer and the more unremittingly its services of pity- 
ing love were called forth. But it is not in the sympathy of natural 



^^^H^^M^BB 



214 POPULAR LECTURES. 

affection, or friendship, that we are at present most concerned. 
The great principle of charity, as an emanation from Deity, is love for 
every creature that lives, and, consequently, a desire to do the 
utmost possible good to all ; to increase to the utmost of our ability, 
the sum of happiness of God's living creatures. Nay, I should 
doubt the bond of perfectness in the man who would "needlessly 
set foot upon a worm." 

Such is the principle of charity ; but charity may be called a 
science by itself, for active charity requires system. Its duties must 
be classed. The highest grade of duty it enjoins, is doing good to 
the souls of men, elevating the soul of man in the scale of being. 
This was the object of our Savior's incarnation. This, then, should 
be our first duty of charity. The mass of mankind can practice 
this in prayer, if in no other way ; for we are commanded to pray, 
that God would send forth laborers to gather in the souls of men 
to heaven ; and we are assured that the " fervent prayers of the 
righteous availeth much." Each individual must determine for 
himself, what more he can do than pray, in the performance of this 
duty. Charity out of a pure heart will instruct him. Next, chari- 
ty expends its treasures of prayer and painstaking upon the moral 
and religious wants of the country, the neighborhood, the circle of 
acquaintances, the family with which we are more especially con- 
nected ; not that Christian charity permits us to seek in prayer any 
blessing for our nearest relations, that we do not ask for every other 
child of our common father. But let none, from this, mistake the 
principle of Christian charity so far as to imagine it to weaken the 
force of natural affection. It is not that we are not to supplicate 
all and every blessing for our families which a perfect God can 
bestow, but that, not limiting our supplications to our personal 
friends, we are to consider every human being as in want of the 
same mercy which our hearts are so ready to ask for those to 
whom our natural affections are bound. We are to be enlarged, 
by contemplating the necessities of all men ; we are to have our 
love for them quickened, by considering their sad condition as 
miserable sinners; and when we have poured out a generous, 
heart-felt prayer for the relief of distresses which we have realized, 
re shall not fail to be ready ourselves to do our own part in re- 
lieving them. We should unite with others in social prayer for 
charities, and in this way associations for doing good will naturally 
arise. Associations for charitable purposes have many advantages. 
In the first place, sympathy quickens the feelings to activity ; then, 
in the multitude of counsel there is wisdom, and in the union of 
forces there is power. Many plans for the benefit of mankind have 
been undertaken by associations, which individuals could never 
have hoped to effect. Charitable associations should always be 
commenced and carried on with social prayer for that unity of 
spirit, which is the very essence of charity, " the bond of perfect- 



LECTURE XXXIX. 215 

ness." The principle of association has exactly the effect in Christ- 
ian labors of charity, that division of labor has in the mechanic arts. 
As well might the labors of the cotton factory, the building the 
houses, the making the machinery, from the mining for iron ore 
and cutting of trees, to the finished and polished execution of the 
wheels, the cranks, and the cylinders, and the manual labor of all 
subsequent operations, be attempted by a single individual, as the 
labors of the extensive charities which Christianity has brought 
into operation. What conld one man do by himself towards es- 
tablishing such an institution as the Bible society'? What effect 
would be produced by the single efforts of a missionary going 
out to the heathen without books, tracts, or other assistances'? 
What probable success could one man hope for, who would under- 
take to establish a college or hospital f If he wished to do so, he 
must first induce others to associate themselves with him, in the 
true Christian spirit of charity ; and he must do so in faith, and 
allow no hope of drawing in the resources of the wicked to lead 
him to touch the unclean thing, and defile himself by a union of 
Christ and Belial. l Christians are a peculiar people, whom God has 
consecrated to himself, and they lay the foundation of every evil, 
when they take into their sacred associations those who are not 
servants of God. Worldly ostentation, strife, jealousies and evil 
speaking are thus introduced into councils where the Spirit of God 
should alone preside, and bad passions to the place of good princi- 
ciples. They give from base motives, and their gifts are an abomina- 
tion to the pure and holy God, who would have charity out of a 
pure heart ; and thus he rejects, and condemns that which is cor- 
rupted by a mixture of unholy motives. Charity, as it connects 
us with the poor, requires that each one should consider, with 
combined liberality and economy, what is necessary for his own 
expenditures, should make the sum as small for selfish purposes 
as in reason he can, and then provide for his family and de- 
pendants with modest propriety. Almost every person, by econo- 
my, can give something as an offering to that God to whom he 
owes every thing. But he should, if possible, set apart a certain 
portion, which he should consider as not his own, and devote it to 
the most important charity with which he is acquainted ; while in 
visits to the distressed, and superintendance of the wants of the 
poor around him, he should be governed by the spirit of a kind 
father, and should relieve their bodily and mental distresses by 
every means in his power. He should be personally acquainted 
with them and their habits, customs, manners, morals, and feel- 
ings; and should never think he has done his duty, until he has 
exerted his personal influence to improve their condition in every 
respect. He, who is proud, reserved, indolent, or selfish, is not 
inspired with the true zeal of Christian charity. Be not then con- 
tented with theorizing, but let no day pass without having practi- 



216 POPULAR LECTURES. 

cally evinced your love for God, by your kindness to his chilren ; 
and remember who said " in as much as you did it not unto the 
least of these, you did it not unto me." But there is still a higher 
grade of Christian duty than this, and the most splendid display 
of the grandeur and nobleness of this virtue, which shall constitute 
all that is immortal in the character of man, was made by the 
Savior of the human race in the hour when scourged, spit upon, 
crowned with thorns, laden with the burden of the cross, led away 
to be crucified, he prayed for his enemies, offering for them, the 
only possible apology which could have been made for their crime, 
" Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." What 
more could he have done for his dearest friends, than to have 
prayed for them in this hour of mental and bodily agony ! nor did 
his love of his enemies end there ; for the first to whom he sent 
the word of power to correct their souls, after his ascension, were 
these, his murderers. Upon the same principle, Peter and James, 
strong in the same omnipotent charity, loving the murderers of 
their beloved Master, went boldly to them, and encouraging them 
by a consideration of their ignorance, said, "And now brethren, I 
wot through ignorance ye did it;" thus in the name and power of 
their crucified Lord, they converted, baptized, and received their 
most deadly enemies into the church, as the first fruits of the 
apostolic preaching. Such is Christian charity. All men are 
objects of its affections, all wants the objects of its beneficence. 
Love, therefore, your enemies, as Christ loved his: and you will be 
loved of the heavenly " Father who is kind to the thankful and the 
unthankful;" and sendeth his blessings upon "the just and the un- 
just." 



1. What definition is given of charity in the Scriptures? 2. In what spirit 
should our acts of charity be performed? 3. In what principle do we most 
resemble the Deity ? 4. What is the signification of the term charity 
How are we to cultivate the principle of charity? 6. What are the highest 
duties it enjoins upon us ? 7. What are the advantages arising from charitable 
associations? 8. In what does the noblest exercise of this virtue consist ? 9. 
How was it exercised by our Savior and his apostles ? 



LECTURE XL. 217 

LECTURE XL. 

ON PATRIOTISM. 

" It I forget thee, 0, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning ; if I 
prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." — Ps., cxxxvii., 5,6. 

My dear young friends : 

The more enlarged our moral sentiments become, the more re- 
semblance they bear to the attributes of the Deity. Unless, indeed, 
by greater expansion than strength, they are so diffused as to be- 
come less efficient. The man, who but warmly loves his wife and 
children, is better than the perfectly selfish being, who studies only 
his own personal gratification. The man, who has a heart large 
enough to take in father, mother, brother and sister, is still one 
grade more elevated above the brutes. If he can admit a friend 
into his soul and love him as a brother, he has a spark of heavenly 
fire within him, which may yet expand his nature beyond the con- 
tracted limits of his little domicile; and if he interests himself, 
generously, like the good Samaritan, in every sufferer who falls 
within the sphere of his good offices, his heart may soon be en- 
larged to the utmost extent of philanthropy. That sentiment, which 
includes the whole people with which we are united by country, 
manners and customs, and, above all, by language and religion, is 
called patriotism, or love of our own nation. This sentiment does 
not depend upon geographical boundaries. The English, Scotch 
and Irish form one government ; but they have no common senti- 
ment of patriotism. The Scotch and Irish are conquered nations, 
and have ever been treated by their victors as such. Their na- 
tional characters are radically different, and the northern harp, hung 
in the deep recesses of the rugged dell, still sends forth the melo- 
dious plaint of Coila's wrongs, while the harp of Tara vibrates in 
long, deep unison with Erin's griefs. " How can we sing the songs 
of Z ion in a strange land," said the mournful captives, as they hung 
their harps on the " willows of Babylon, and sat them down and 
wept." The natural association, in the simple song of the Ranz- 
des-Vaches, with father, mother, sister, brother, lambs, flocks, and 
the gentle shepherdesses dancing under the shade of a young elm, 
produced such an effect upon the soldiers from Helvetia, in the 
armies of Europe, that they died of a disease, which was called 
maladie du pays, and the military bands were forbidden to play it. 
The punishment of exile from home and friends has always been 
considered as of equal severity with death ; and the sentiment ex- 
pressed by Montgomery is true to nature — to the human heart; our 
own country is a land 

" Beloved by heaven, o'er all the world besides ; 
There brighter suns dispense serener light, 
And milder moons emparadise the night." 
19 



218 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



The sentiment of local attachment arises from associations with 
those pleasures of childhood and youth which " lightly frolic o'er 
the vacant mind," and tinge every picture of memoiy with then 
own warm glow, with cherished memorials of the kindness of pa- 
rents, brothers, sisters, warm-hearted playmates, and generous 
friends. Man, banished from home, under all circumstances, will 
apply this description to the land where his forefathers dwelt ; and 
it will be found, upon examination, that patriotism is a sentiment 
implanted in the soul for the noblest purposes. Unenlightened, it 
may often prove a bane to national improvement, as parental go- 
vernment frequently degenerates into an absolute evil. As a weak 
mother's fondness is exhibited in seeking empty distinction for her 
daughter, rather than elevation of character, so the rulers of a na- 
tion are often inspired with a false love of display for their country. 
Unhappy the land whose great men are children ! In the history 
of those nations that have been distinguished upon the earth, it is 
evident, that the characters of individuals have ever produced the 
weal or wo of nations. : Take, for instance, the authentic records 
of the people of Israel, and what a splendid exhibition it affords of 
the blessing which God confers upon a nation in the patriotism of 
its leaders. What a beautiful sentiment was that which inspired 
the heart of Moses, when rejecting all the wealth and luxury of the 
Egyptian court, where, from his talents and learning as the adopted 
son of Pharaoh's daughter, every human distinction awaited him, 
he preferred to suffer with his own oppressed and degraded people. 
He preferred to lead them in faith in Almighty God, whose protec- 
tion is ever extended to the virtuous, and whose parental e}~e is 
ever watching for the happiness of nations. And how did he prefer 
to do it ! Did he seek personal distinction ? No ! through life, and 
in death, he avoided it. He loved his people, and certainly in doing 
so he exhibited the purest sentiment of the human heart ; for he 
had no early associations with the peace and comforts of a quiet 
home, and a native land. It was pure, unmixed love of his people, 
which he had unconsciously imbibed from his warm-hearted mo- 
ther. No doubt, my dear young friends, the mother, who con- 
trived the beautiful maternal expedient to save the life of her dar- 
ling boy, often, as she folded him in her fond embrace, (how much, 
oh, how much fonder than Pharaoh's daughter's !) told him the sad 
tale of his people's wrongs, painted in glowing colors the grinding 
oppressions of a tyrannical government, made his little heart ache 
with the description of Rachel weeping for her children, when every 
house was the scene of slaughtered innocence. u Oh. my son !" 
would she say, " forget not the sorrows of your own people. Labor 
to become wise, and learned, and good ; so that, when the favor of 
many and the blessing of God are with you, you may rise up as a 
noble champion for your unhappy nation." Yes, in the simplicity 
of the national annals, we have the explanation of this devotion of 



LECTURE XL. 



219 



Moses to the enslaved Israelites, in the fact that his mother sought 
and obtained the privilege of nursing him. Oh ! if every mother 
loved her country, and would early stamp the noble principle upon 
the warm and flexible hearts of her sons, what glory would arise 
upon the nations of the earth. For see how magnanimous was 
this principle. God gave Moses the power to carry out his people 
under such splendid and overawing circumstances, that, had he 
sought personal distinction, he might, no doubt, have assumed a 
throne like Pharaoh's; but no! placing before him his brother, 
from whose natural inferiority of talents there was nothing to be 
feared, to save his nation from being dazzled by his magnificent 
position as the successful leader in such an enterprise, we find 
him withdrawn with God, in the mountain of Sinai, making equal 
laws to which he would commit, under God himself, the conduct of 
affairs ; attributing nothing to himself, but that he was the passive 
instrument in the hands of the King of kings ; he pointed modestly 
to the future time, when, under the influence of laws suited to the 
present hardness of their hearts, " they would be prepared for a 
greater Lawgiver, who should arise from among them," and give 
them perfect laws, to which God would exact a perfect obedience, 
under the penalty of being cut off from amidst the people of God. 
Bearing meekly and patiently with the folly and ingratitude of a 
people long degraded by grinding slavery, we see him taking ad- 
vantage of every calamitous circumstance to excite them to virtu- 
ous sentiments; and to their inculcation adding the sanction of 
that holy name, which they were forbidden even to mention for 
common purposes. Such, evidently, was the sole object of the 
life of Israel's great patriot ; and the care he took to prevent their 
knowing where he was buried, to prevent their offering undue 
honors to his memory, is the last noble evidence of his disinterested 
patriotism. To make them a moral and religious people was the 
first, the last, and the only labor of his long-suffering and patient 
life ; and when God appeared to have left them for their sins, the 
prayers of the patriot for their "welfare were but redoubled. 

Next, see the virtuous Samuel contending with the rebellious 
spirit of the corrupted nation, and dissuading them from casting 
away the blessings of a free government and equal laws ; and yet 
not deserting them in their infatuation, but watching over their 
youthful king with generous patriotism. The prophets of Israel 
were splendid examples of patriots, ever laboring, in spite of the 
most cruel and ungrateful treatment, to inspire the nation with 
virtuous sentiments and principles, rebuking their sins, like the 
magnificent Elijah and Isaiah, or weeping over the slain of the 
daughters of their people, as if their eyes were a fountain of tears, 
like the mournful Jeremiah. We reach the acme of perfection in the 
sentiment of love of country in our blessed Lord Jesus, who, when 
he saw Jerusalem, wept and exclaimed, " Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusa- 



220 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



lem ! thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent 
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thee as a hen gather- 
eth her brood under her wings, and ye would not." Do you not 
perceive, my young friends, that virtue exalteth a nation in the 
same ratio that it does each man ; and that the patriot's first and 
great aim should be, to extend the blessings of moral, intellectual 
and religious improvement to every citizen of his country, and to 
maintain pure principles in the laws and government. That man 
is not truly a great man, who is not himself personally a virtuous 
man. He cannot be truly elevated, who would not rather emulate 
the patriots than the selfish usurpers of ancient or modern history. 
Lycurgus and Aristides rather than Alexander or Philip of Mace- 
don, Cincinnatus rather than Coriolanus, Cato or Regulus than 
Julius or Augustus Caesar. In later and more enlightened ages, 
are not Tell, Wallace and Washington, the consecrated instru- 
ments of the same God who raised up Moses to redeem a nation, 
greater far than Cromwell or Buonaparte, overthrowing govern- 
ments, and desolating nations, to attain the false distinction of per- 
sonal aggrandizement? A man, whose soul can embrace within 
the enlarged bounds of its expansive affections a nation, as if it 
were a family, and can be the father of it, is truly a great man, and 
possesses an imperishable distinction in his resemblance to God, the 
Father of all; and he will evince it in his constant endeavors to 
promote good-will, amity and virtuous habits, among the people, as 
he would in the bosom of his own family. He will study the history 
of nations, not to be dazzled and inflamed by the success of milita- 
ry despots and their destructive wars, but to ascertain what prin- 
ciples have ever conduced to the happiness of men. And, instead of 
exciting factions, by rousing the bad passions of his countrymen, 
he will never cease to warn them, as did the venerable Washington, 
in his beautiful valedictory to his beloved country, (which should 
have since been used as a reading book in all her schools,) against 
the dangers to which the passions of the people for ever expose them, 
when wrought upon by the popularity of their favorites. In our 
country, a new experiment seems about to be made, the success or 
the failure of which will be of inestimable consequence to mankind. 
The experiment is, whether men naturally love freedom, whether, 
having fairly obtained it, for the first time since the earth was peo- 
pled, they will carefully preserve the jewel. Our country is the 
only free country that has ever existed, because the untrammelled 
principles of the Christian religion are the only foundation of a true 
national freedom ; and the ancient republics wanted this essential 
ground-work to purify the mind of man from that slavish reverence 
for his fellow worms of the dust, which is the foundation of all arti- 
ficial ranks in society, all despotism, all human distinctions but 
those of virtue and wisdom. " Call no man master, for all ye arc 
brethren,'" Let any rational person consider the import of these 



LECTURE XL. 221 

words, and then read the base adulatory style of the address to a 
human being attached to the Bible of England: "Most High and 
Mighty Prince James,'"' Queen Elizabeth the "bright occidental 
star" and he " the sun in his strength ;" epithets, which had been 
peculiarly appropriated to the Almighty God and Savior. Is it 
possible to respect a man, who professes the Christian religion, and 
yet permits human beings to apply to him such terms of almost 
idolatrous flattery, when Christ says, " be not ye called master, nor 
father," because such terms of respect should only be used to God? 
Does not the simple expression of Massillon (rebuking the adula- 
tion of the French to their king,) " Dieu seul est grand" seem to 
strike at the root of monarchical and aristocratical associations'? Do 
not the Scriptures, in declaring the poor to be blessed, and the rich 
condemned, does not the example of Jesus himself, choosing a sta- 
tion, rank and connexions from the lowest order of society, and 
bidding those who wished for distinctions, to found them upon 
usefulness to mankind, enjoining humility and lowliness of heart, 
do not all these features in our most blessed faith, point to the 
establishment of liberty and equality, wherever it shall prevail'? 
Certainly, and whenever the principles of the Christian religion 
come to be fully established, and men lose their undue reverence 
for the playthings and baubles of manhood, the crowns and sceptres, 
the mitres and robes of kings and priests, all forms of government 
must give way to the pure system of republican democracy. The 
people must be enlightened by education, and the people must 
choose their own governors, and hold them strictly responsible. 
Then will they select them, not on account of some accidental dis- 
tinction of fortune, or some superficial display of popular talent, but 
for their virtue and integrity. In our country, we have yet to learn 
that the most dreadful slavery is that to our own passions; and, 
that as this is the case with individuals, it is equally the case with 
nations. The passions of men are contagious ; not so truth and 
reason. Popular movements are often generous, but seldom ra- 
tional or just; and the consciousness that popular favor is not 
always secured either by virtue or by knowledge, causes a rapid 
degeneracy in the character of the leaders of the people. The 
happiness and prosperity of a popular government can be secured 
only by its being a well established principle, that a man who loses 
his moral character is degraded in the opinion of the nation, and 
can obtain no political distinction. A patriot should be as jealous 
of the honor of his country, as of his own personal honor, and 
should identify them. Histories, detailing the grievous and de- 
moralizing effects of oppressive government, should be prepared 
for the schools of our country, that our citizens may be able to de- 
tect the encroachments of usurpation. Our ancestors were taught 
the blessings of freedom and equal rights by cruel oppression; and 
we are evidently fast forgetting what they experienced, and would 

19* 



222 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



be easily persuaded to throw away the shield and buckler which 
they placed in our hands. True patriots should imitate the Spar- 
tans in their superintendence of public schools ; and, by daily inter- 
course with youth, raise up a generation guarded by integrity and 
enlightened judgment against all the efforts of the factious and 
ambitious. It should be inculcated in childhood and youth, it should 
be a branch of national education, that every citizen of a free coun- 
try has a personal interest in the welfare and honor of his county, 
and that he sh'ould never consent to their being placed in the keep- 
ing of any but the most virtuous. The youth, especially, of the 
United States, should be made to study history, that they may 
know how inimical to the freedom of civil government is the influ- 
ence of the military. Free governments have heretofore found 
their most fatal danger to arise from the ambition of military chief- 
tains; and if our government stands, it must be by the wisdom of 
the people guarding their own rights with vigilance and jealousy. 
May we, with the Christian's God as our pilot, ride triumphantly 
over the dangers which threaten us! I will conclude with the 
words of the beloved father of our country. " I now make my 
earnest prayer, that God would have you in his holy protection, 
and that he would incline the hearts of our citizens to cultivate a 
spirit of subordination and obedience to government ; to enter- 
tain a brotheriy lvoe for one another, and for the citizens of the 
United States at large; and finally, that he would be most gra- 
ciously pleased to dispose us all to do justly, to love mercy, and t< > 
demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of 
mind, which were the characteristics of the divine Author of our 
blessed religion, without an humble imitation of whose example in 
those things we can never hope to be a happy nation." 

1. When do our moral sentiments most resemble the attributes of the Deity ? 
2. What is patriotism ? 3. Does this sentiment depend upon geographical 
boundaries? 4. Have the Scotch and Irish common sentiments of patriotism ? 
5. Why was the national air of the Swiss forbidden to be played ? 6. What is 
said of the punishment of exile ? 7. From what arises local attachment ? 8. 
For what purposes has the sentiment of patriotism been implanted in the soul ? 
9. Does not parental government often degenerate into an evil: 10. Wheie do 
we see a splendid exhibition of this sentiment? 11. Did Moses seek personal 
distinction ? 12. What explains to us his devotion to the Israelites? 13. Whom 
did Moses place before himself? 14. "What is the last evidence of his noble, 
patriotism? 15. What appeared to be the only labor of his life ? 16. What is 
said of the patriotism of the prophets ? 17. Where shall we find the perfectness 
of this sentiment? IS. What should be the first aim of all patriots ? 19. Who 
is the only truly great man ? 20. Whom will an elevated man endeavor to 
imitate ? 21. How will such a man evince his resemblance to the Deity ? 22. 
Against what dangers did Washington warn his countrymen ? 23. What ex- 
periment is about to be made in our country ? 24. What is the only founda- 
tion of national freedom ? 25. Were the ancient republics deficient in it? 26. 
What is the foundation of all artificial rank ? 27. To whom should such terms 
of respect alone be used ? 28. Upon what are we bid to found distinction ? 
29. When do men lose their reverence for such baubles? 30. For what will 



LECTURE XLI. 223 

LECTURE XLI. 

ON THE HARMONY OF THE MORAL PRINCIPLES. 

.Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, 
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and 
if there be any praise, think on these things. — Phil., iv., 8. 

My VERY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: 

For the last time, I would claim from your indulgence that at- 
tention which I have so often engaged of late for the important 
investigation of moral science. If you have felt any thing ap- 
proaching to the deep interest which I have experienced in analyz- 
ing for your benefit the principles of ethics, drawn from nature and 
revelation, I shall not be without a reward for the labor it has cost 
me to reduce my views to writing. 

Habitually to contemplate the perfection of the human being, in 
the character of Jesus Christ, is to erect the divine standard of 
moral truth in the mind ; and I do not doubt, that under the influ- 
ence of the Holy Spirit, it is the only and all-sufficient means ap- 
pointed by the Creator for the completion of his most excellent crea- 
tion, the immortal soul of man. The analysis of the example has 
afforded me so fascinating an employment, that I could wish for 
none happier, were it not that an apprehension of failing to do 
justice to so elevated a subject has attended me throughout. 

To complete our course, let us now, with becoming reverence, 
atttempt to prove our principles by a synthetic process. 

As in the physical world the chemist has discovered the compo- 
sition of the diamond by analysis, but no process of recomposition 
by which to restore to existence the precious gem, so we may not 
hope to reunite the elements of moral truth in that mysterious 
combination, which constitutes the homogeneous unity of the divine 
and human beings in our Lord, but we shall, perhaps, be able to 
combine them, so as to produce a character of such transcendent 
and transparent beauty, as may well charm us into a love of holi- 
ness. 

I hope I have convinced you, that the only certain foundation of 
moral obligation is laid in the obvious resemblance which the 
Creator impressed of himself on the soul of man; giving such a 
likeness of his own attributes to the moral and intellectual faculties, 

they then choose their governors ? 31. What is the greatest slavery ? 32. How is 
the prosperity of a popular government secured ? 33. How did our ancestors 
learn the blessings of freedom ? 34. In what should the Spartans be imitated ? 
35. What is the most fatal danger of a free government? 36. How is our go- 
vernment to stand ? 



224 POPULAR LECTURES 

as produces in them a perception, that to imitate is the only way to 
please his God. 

Power, in his moral energies, to control his physical propensities, 
is what has been wanting since the fall to enable the creature to 
obey the law in his mind; "For to will is present with me, but how 
to perform that which is good, I find not." I have also endeavored 
to show you, that this power to perform is the free grace of God 
reserved for those who desire without deserving it. 

Suppose a man in full possession of his natural powers, but cast 
into a deep pit without any means of escape. Suppose him look- 
ing up in despair, and, when about to perish, perceiving one, who 
had ever been the object of his hatred, looking down benevolently, 
and generously offering to aid him in recovering his liberty. His 
natural powers are now perfectly useless, but if he accepts the 
proffered aid, all his own powers are necessarily brought into 
requisition, and are made efficient for the desired purpose. He is 
not brought out by force, neither does God save us without our 
own efforts, for it is he who works in us by nature or conscience, 
first, to will, and afterwards, by his free grace in Christ, to do, of his 
good pleasure. 

Certain moral principles, acknowledged as the revealed attri- 
butes of the Deity, have, in all ages, been recognized and acted 
upon by individuals as principles of moral government. Think 
you that the " accusing and excusing " tribunal of conscience in 
Aristides, would not have appreciated the justice in our Lord, who 
submitted to the penalty of death himself, rather than set aside the 
majesty of the law ! Would not that of Regulus have responded 
to the voice of the Everlasting, proclaiming that he had come to 
fulfil that which he had undertaken before the foundations of the 
earth were laid ! Would not the dying Socrates have sympathi 
with Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, and have felt himself ex- 
alted above the feeble aspirations of humanity by a sacrifice 
similar, and yet so transcendently excelling his own. 

God's works are all harmonious, that is, no one part naturally 
operates against another. Each principle of physical nature i* 
made to work together with the rest, and so of moral nature, ex- 
cept in the solitary instance of free agency in man. Man's power 
to disobey his Maker has indeed made so serious a breach in the 
good order of the universe, that the evil could only be repaired by 
the intervention of the Deity himself. For this purpose he has ex- 
hibited the free agent governed by the Divine attributes. In this 
light Jesus is presented to us, and the result is a perfect man. 
What duty, belonging to humanity, did he not perfectly perform 
What temptation, incident to life, did he not pass through victo- 
riously ] From the early conflicts of the temptations in the wilder- 
ness, to the last awful struggles of mortal agony in the crucifixion, 
we see him contemplate unmoved the choice between "all the 



LECTURE XLI. 225 

kingdoms of the earth and all the glory thereof," on one side, and 
pain, ignominy and a cruel death, on the other. The bright Pattern 
of exulting virtue, the Desire of all nations, whose presence has filled 
the house of the Lord with glory, walked humbly through life, 
fulfilling the ordinary duties of man. To assert supreme dominion 
over earth and heaven, to command his ministers to go in his 
name to all nations, offering to them pardon, and calling them to 
obedience, to put down all rule and authority which principalities 
and powers opposed to him, was as simple and natural as to be 
himself meek and lowly of heart. To confound the proud and 
learned doctors of the law, and to be subject to his mother, were 
simultaneous displays of the wisdom which betrayed his divinity, 
and the meekness which adorned his humanity. The sympathy of 
an affectionate friend, the benevolence of a kind neighbor, the 
tempered severity of a just master, the liberality of a generous lord, 
the tenderness of a pious son, the submission of a loyal subject, the 
devotion of a patriot, and (the last link that binds humanity to di- 
vinity,) the deathless compassion of a philanthropist, all combine in 
perfect harmony in the character of the Savior. Lo ! " Behold 
thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass." Won- 
derful vision of the gifted seer, in which are embodied the novel 
characteristics of the appointed Messiah. For now behold the 
kingdom of our God and his Christ established, and what a magni- 
ficent glory is around the lowly Son of Mary. "A sceptre of 
lighteousness is the sceptre of his kingdom." " And we behold his 
glory, (the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace 
and truth." Truth, translucent as the clearest crystal, forms the ra- 
diant throne of his majesty, and peace and purity, wisdom and mercy 
are his ministers. Love and obedience wait upon his law. " Man 
shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed." 
But while this " most excellent glory " surrounded his sacred per- 
son, no exterior rank of state distinguished him from the crowd 
which thronged, no circumstance of birth or wealth, no dazzling 
display of popular talent, of human learning or accomplishment, 
facilitated the establishment of that dominion over the minds of 
men, which is yet advancing to the universal sovereignty which he 
claimed. 

He meant to exhibit an example of such simple, unpretending 
virtue, as would be practicable to man in every rank and condition 
oflife. 

Mercy " becomes the throned monarch better than his crown ;" 
and yet, the mercy of Christ is as often beautifully exemplified by 
the peasant, as the prince. How emphatically a human principle 
was the sympathy which our Lord betrayed at the tomb of Laza- 
rus, when, although conscious that in a few moments the mourning 
of his friends would be turned into joy, he illustrated by his action, 
the lovely precept of his religion, "He wept with those who wept." 



226 POPULAR LECTURES. 

How many of his faithful followers have emulated the benevolence 
of a kind neighbor, of which he afforded them the practical illustra- 
tion, in every instance in which, like the good Samaritan, he poured 
oil into the wounds of suffering humanity ? He had compassion 
on the multitude when they hungered and were faint. And when 
he saw the widow carrying out her only son dead, to bury him, 
"he had compassion on her, and said, Weep not." He did not dis- 
dain to visit the servant of a certain centurion, who was dear unto 
his master. When the penitent shed tears of remorse at his feet, 
he poured the balm of pity into a wounded spirit : " Daughter, be of 
good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee." And when his disciples 
forbade mothers to press around him with their infants, " he took 
the young children in his arms and blessed them." What principle 
of humanity forbids an imitation of these things ) He rebuked sin 
with due severity, as an upright ruler should do : " Ye generations 
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come." 
Ye devour widows' houses, and for "a pretence make long prayers."' 
The forgiving liberality of a generous lord is evinced in his offering 
his servants a full pardon, on condition of their pardoning each 
other. Can any object be more affecting to the human imagina- 
tion, than the Son of man contemplating his beloved Jerusalem as 
he approached the gates, viewing her as condemned for her sins 
to inevitable destruction, anticipating her crimes against his own 
sacred person, and yet weeping at the thought of her doom ! His 
filial piety is most touchingly displayed when, in the agonies of 
death, he remembered to charge the beloved John to supply his 
place to his mother. His philanthropy continues even after his 
resurrection — the same unbounded anxiety for the welfare of the 
world. " Simon Peter, lovest thou me : feed my lambs." If, my 
dear yotmg friends, you doubt the ability of man to emulate these 
bright examples, remember that he has promised, not only to 
give you strength, but to be your strength himself; and that your 
weakness only recommends you the more to his benevolence, and 
in proportion as you are weak, he will show himself strong in per- 
fecting you in his strength. " My grace is sufficient for thee, for 
my strength is made perfect in weakness." Be assured, then, that 
the most lowly have no need to despair of performing the most 
exalted duties, and the most elevated are required to attend to the 
humblest. "The closer association," says a pious writer, "that 
we have here with Christ, the nearer assimilation we shall have to 
Christ. Moses did but talk with God, and how did his face shine 
with a beam of God! You ma3 7 quickly know a soul that doth 
converse, and is familiar with Jesus Christ ; you shall see it sliining 
forth with the glories of Christ. As wisdom maketh the face to shine, 
so Jesus Christ maketh the soul to shine, so that he that looks on 
him can see that soul has met with and seen the Lord. I see by 
the strong reflex of the beams of righteousness, he carries the very 



LECTURE XLI. 227 

image of Christ upon him, and the very beauties of Christ about 
him; he looks like Christ, he speaks like Christ, he walks like 
Christ, he lives like Christ, he is like Christ and he knows he comes 
from Christ. That soul that is always beholding the glory of the 
Lord, shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory. If 
that soul be so glorious that beholds God darkly, as in a glass, and 
enjoys God at a distance, how gloriously shall that soul be that shall 
see him clearly, and directly face to face, and enjoy immediate 
communion with Jesus Christ ? We shall then be like him indeed, 
when we shall see him as he is. Our glory shall be like his, our 
eternity shall be like his, who is the God of beauty, excellency, 
sweetness, happiness and eternity. O Lord, let me' have such clear 
visions, such sweet fruition of thee, that I may not only hereafter 
be happy as thou art happy, but may likewise now be holy as thou 
art holy." 

Once more, and I have done, " Ye also, as lively stones, are built 
up a spiritual house ; in whom all the building, fitly framed toge- 
ther, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are 
builded together, for a habitation of God through the Spirit." 
How apt and beautiful a figure is this, by which the godlike spirit 
of true Christians is assimilated (as integrant constituents of the 
true church) to the regular and uniform parts upon which the com- 
pactness, permanency and beauty of some highly wrought sym- 
metrical structure of human art depends. The church of Christ is 
in the hearts of his people, and these are already sending up united 
prayer and praise, the anthem of love and the fragrant incense of 
good works from every land within the wide circumference of the 
earth. But the beautiful edifice of which Christ has laid the solid 
foundations wide as the world, derives its perfection from every 
lively stone built into its everlasting walls, being wrought into 
uniformity and beauty by their individual and universal resem- 
blance to their one perfect model. 

Have you considered, that to be a Christian is to be like Christ? 
Have you realized in your mind, the conception of a world of 
beings, under the gentle rule of the Prince of peace, united in "all 
goodness, and righteousness, and truth, love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance ;" for these are 
the fruits of that spirit, by which we are built into the holy temple 
of the Lord 1 Have you considered that as the whole temple is 
glorious, so the glory of the whole is imparted by each individual 
spirit, of which the church is composed, being in itself glorious in 
holiness ) See, then, that ye be not rejected by the wise Master- 
builder, who knoweth what is in man. Consider your destiny in 
this world to be holiness to the Lord, that you may purify your- 
selves so that you cast not the minutest shadow of darkness, nor 
any spot, upon the splendor of that radiance, which is to emanate 
from the whole body of the church as " a light to lighten the Gen- 



228 POPULAR LECTURES. 

tiles," as a beacon to save from ruin, and restore to the favor of 
God, a rebellious and disobedient world. Oh, my children ! could 
I know that each one of you would now, from this time, adopt the 
principle of moral government which I have proposed to you, no 
cares, no sorrows, no pains incident to humanity, would have 
power again to cloud the sunshine of the soul, which would gild 
the evening of my life. I should rejoice over you with a mother's 
joy here, and rest in hopes of a blessed immortality with you here- 
after. Heavenly Father, grant it through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Amen and amen. 



APPENDIX 



EXTRACT FROM CORNARO. 

"The first thing (says Cornaro) that led me to embrace a life of tempe- 
rance was the many and sore evils which I suffered from a contrary course 
of living ; my constitution was naturally weakly and delicate, which ought 
in reason to have made me more regular and prudent, but being, like most 
young men, too fond of what is usually called good eating and drinking, I 
gave the reins to my appetite. In a little time I began to feel the ill effects 
of such intemperance; for I had scarce attained to my thirty-fifth year before 
I was attacked with a complication of disorders, such as headachs, sick 
stomach, cholicky uneasiness, the gout, rheumatic pains, lingering fevers, and 
continual thirst ; and though I was then but in the middle of my days, my con- 
stitution seemed so entirely ruined, that I could hardly hope for any other 
termination to my sufferings but death. The best physicians in Italy em- 
ployed all their skill in my behalf, but to no effect. 

" At last they told me very candidly that there was but one thing that could 
afford me a single ray of hope, but one medicine that could give a radical 
cure ; viz : the immediate adoption of a temperate and regular life. They 
added moreover that now I had no time to lose, that I must immediately 
either choose a regimen or death, and that if I deferred their advice much 
longer it would too late to do it. 

" I then requested my physicians to tell me exactly after what manner I 
ought to govern myself. To this they replied that I should always consider 
myself as an infirm person, eat nothing but what agreed with me, and that in 
small quantities. I then immediately entered on this new course of life, and 
with so determined a resolution, that nothing has been since able to divert 
me from it. In a few days I perceived that this new way of living agreed 
very well with me ; and in less than a twelvemonth I had the unspeakable 
happiness to find that all my late alarming symptoms were vanished, and that 
I was perfectly restored to health." 

Again he says. " In a word, I entirely renounced intemperance, and made 
a vow to continue the remainder of my life under the same regimen I had 
observed. A happy resolution this! The keeping of which entirely cured 
me of all my infirmities. I never before lived a single year without falling 
at least once into some violent illness : but this never happened to me after- 
wards ; on the contrary, I have always been healthy ever since I was tem- 
perate." 

" All who know me," he says elsewhere, " will tell you that I am still so 
strong at fourscore and three as to mount a horse without any help or ad- 
vantage of situation; that I can not only go up a single flight of stairs, but 
climb a hill from bottom to top on foot ; that I am always in humor; main- 
taining a happy peace in my own mind, the sweetness and sincerity whereof 
appear at all timfes in my countenance." 

Again. " I am now ninety-five years of age, and find myself as healthy and 
brisk as if I were but twenty-five." — See " Sure and certain method of attaining 
a long and healthy life" §c. Written by Lewis Cornaro, when he was near a 
hundred years of age. 



CATALOGUE 

FOR A 

YOUNG LADY'S LIBRARY, 

Intended for the commencement of a Course of Study, to succeed 
the usual school course. 



I. RELIGION. 



Townsend's Chronological Bible. 

* English Polyglott Bible. 
Clarke's Bible, or some other approved 

Bible with notes. 

* Butterworth's Concordance. 

* Home on the Psalms. 

Home on the Study of the Holy 
Scriptures. 

* Paley's Natural Theology. 
Cudworth's Works. 

* Butler's Analogy of Natural and 
Revealed Religion. 

Campbell on Miracles. 
Locke on the Epistles. 
Calmet's Dictionary. 
Jenyns', Erskine's, Sumner's Inter- 
nal Evidences. 
Keith on Prophecies. 
Watson's Apology for the Bible. 
Leslie's Short Method. 



Sherlock's Trial of the Witnesses. 
Letters of certain learned Jews to 

Voltaire. 
West on the Resurrection. 
Lyttleton on St. Paul. 
Paley's Horse Paulina?. 
Prideaux Connections. 

* Paley's Evidences. 

* Keith's Evidences. 
Mcllvaine's Evidences. 
Chalmers' Sermcns. 
Mcllvaine's Selection of Sermons. 

* Doddridge's Rise and Progress. 

* Baxter's Call, and Saints Rest. 
Philip's Guide. 

* Christian's Pattern. 

Scougal's Life of God in the Soul of 
Man. 

* Law's Serious Call and Christian 
Perfection. 






With the advantages of the above course of reading, the student will find 
that the Bible is, after all, its own best expositor. I have therefore prepared 
for my pupils an arranged synopsis of Bible studies, which is to be found in 
a little separate volume, at Cushing & Brother's Book store, Baltimore. 

II. CHRISTIAN MORALS AND METAPHYSICS. 



* Mason on Self Knowledge. 
Blair's and Alison's Sermons. 
Penn's No Cross No Crown. 

* Hannah More's Works. 
Doctor Johnson's Works. 
•Locke's Essay on the Human Un- 
derstanding. 

Beattie on Truth. 

* Reid's Essay on the Human Mind. 
Brown on Cause and Effect. 
Watts on the Conduct of the Mind. 
Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments. 

In this class excellent books are so numerous, that we can but recommend 
such as we recollect with most pleasure and profit ourselves, leaving to each 
one to vary the list. 



Dugald Stewart's Essays. 
Upham's Mental Philosophy. 
Combe on the Constitution of Man. 

* Good's Book of Nature. 

* Turner's Sacred History. 

* Listener. 

Abbott's Voung Christian and Corner 

Stone. 
Degerando's Visiter to the Poor. 
Foster's Essays. 

* Natural History of Enthusiasm. 



III. HISTORY. 



Universal History, Rollin. 
Goldsmith's Greece and Rome. 

:ffi »}*«'»• 

Mitford's Greece. 

* Anacharsis' Travels in Greece. 

* Ferguson's Roman Republic. 

* Gibbon's Decline and Fall, abridged. 
Hallam's Middle Ages. 

* Cabinet Histories, Harper's Library. 

* Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella. 

* Bancroft's United States. 
Robertson's America. 

* « Charles V. 

* " Scotland. 

* Josephus. 
Livy and Tacitus. 

Vertot's History of Knights of Malta. 



Dobson's History of the Troubadours. 

Hance's England. 

Sully's Memoirs. 

Miss Aikin's Memoirs of the Court 

and Cabinet of Elizabeth. 
Roscoe's Lorenzo de Medici and 

LeoX. 
Molina's Chili. 
Gutzlaff's China. 
History of the Peninsular War, by 

Southey. 
Smith's History of Virginia. 
Sismondi's Italian Republics. 
Dowe's Hindostan. 
Conquest of Granada, by Irving. 
Trumbull's History of Connecticut. 
Flint's View of "the Valley of the 

Mississippi. 



IV. SCIENCE. 



* Mrs. Somerville's Connection of 
the Physical Sciences. 

Higgins' Physical Condition of the 

Earth. 
Libraiy of Useful Knowledge, vol. i. 
Olmstead's Natural Philosophy. 

* Whewell's Astronomy and General 
Physics. 

Herschel's Astronomy. 
Goldsmith's Animated Nature. 
Class-book of Anatomy. 
Flint's Lectures on Natural History, 

&c. 
Turner's Chemistry. 



of Natural 



Silliman's Chemistry. 
Bigelow's Technology. 
* Sraellie's Philosophy 

History. 
Mrs. Lincoln's Botany. 
Eaton & Wright's Botany. 
Cleaveland's Mineralogy. 
Bakewell's Introduction to Geology. 
Lyell's Geology. 

Buckland's Mineralogy and Geology. 
Family Library, Natural History of 

Insects, 2 vol. 
Malte Brun's large Geography. 



V. TRAVELS. 



Coxe's Travels in Switzerland. 

Brydone's Sicily. 

Coxe's Poland, Russia, Sweden and 

Denmark. 
Mosier's Journey through Persia. 
Stephens' Incidents of Travels in 

Egypt, Arabia and Petra. 
Dr. Humphrey's Tour. 
Stewart's Visit to the South Seas. 



Researches ia 



Smith & Dwight's 

America. 
Barrow's Travels in South Africa. 
Denham & Clapperton's Expedition 

up the Niger. 
Discoveries in the Polar Seas, &c. 
Visits and Sketches of Society, by 

Mrs. Jamieson. 
Malcolm's Travels. 



VI. BIOGRAPHY. 



* Life of Columbus, Irving's. 

* " Washington, Sparks'. 

* " Sir Isaac Newton, Brewster. 
" Bowditch. 

* " Sir William Jones. 

* " Cuvier. 

Life and Correspondence of Mrs. 

Hawkes. 
Fragments of Elizabeth Smith. 
Memoirs of Mrs. Carter. 

•■ Mrs. Hannah More. 



Memoirs of Female Sovereigns, Mrs. 
Jamieson's. 
« Luther. 

« Swartz. 

" Franke. 

Neff. 
« Henry Marty n. 

" Archbishop Seckar. 

" Claudius Buchanan. 

" Mrs. Judson. 

" Mrs. Payson. 






Memoirs of Mrs. Chapone. 
" Jane Taylor. 

" Mrs. Montague. 

«« Mrs. Hamilton. 

" Clementine Cuvier. 

" Sir Philip Sidney. 

" Charlemagne, Jancey's. 

" Mary, Queen of Scots, 

Bell's. 
" Maria Antoinette, We- 

ber's. 
" Napoleon, Sir W. Scott's. 



Memoirs of Whitfield. 

Fenelon, Butler's. 

Wesley, Southey's. 

Wm. Penn, Clarkeson's. 

Baxter. 

Benjamin Franklin. 

Beattie, Forbes'. 

Burns, Currie's. 

Scott, Lockhart's. 

Wilberforce. 

Howard. 



VII. LITERATURE. 



Kaimes' Elements of Criticism. 

Longinus on the Sublime. 

Burke on the Sublime and Beautiful. 

Alison on Taste. 

Schlegel's Lectures. 

Montgomery's Lectures on Poetry. 

Mrs. Dobson's Petrarch. 

Mrs. Jamieson's Characteristics. 

Gardener's Music of Nature. 

England and the English. 



Clarkeson's Portraiture of Quakerism. 

Spectator. 

Sketch Book, Bracebridge Hall, Irv- 

ing's. 
Goldsmith's Works. 
Scott's Novels. 
Miss Birney's Novels. 
Miss Edge worth's Works. 
The Women of England, by Mrs, 

Ellis. 



VIII. POETRY. 



Aikin's British Poets. 

British Poets from Falconer to Scott. 

Campbell. 

Mrs. Hemans. 

Mrs. Sigonrney. 

Miss Baillie's Dramas. 

Sotheby's Oberon. 



Hoole's Tasso. 

Bryant. 

Halleck. 

Common-place book of American 

Poetry, 
Crabbe's Tales of the Hall. 
Family Shakspeare. 



IX. FRENCH. 



Massillon. 

La Harpe, Cours de la Literature. 

Les Jardin's Delille. 

OZuvres de Corneille. 

Racine. 

Moliere. 

De la Vigne. 

Veillies du Chateau. 

Belisaire. 

Florian. 

Pierre le Grand. 



Grandeur and decadence des Romains. 
Siecle de Louis XIV. 
Charles XII. 
Voyages en Amerique. 

" Chateaubriand. 

" Lamartine. 

" Anacharsis. 
Genie du Christianisme. 
Elizabeth de Mdme Cotin. 
La Chaumiere Indienne. 
Lettres de Sevisrne. 



* The stars prefixed to several works indicate those which might be re- 
commended to commence with. It is not to be expected that young ladies 
generally should possess such a Library as is here indicated, but the more 
extensive the list, the greater the facility of obtaining a sufficient number for 
a liberal course of reading. 



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